Murder Mysterium - Night 2, Conservatory

[idolpro]

[ ALCHEME! and SEA.DI enter.

Outside the domed glass of the conservatory, night has fallen. The sky here is dark, clouded over with clouds so low as to feel claustrophobic-- the sort of weather and sort of place where a conservatory to retreat to would be welcome, to feel some sort of warmth that the sky stubbornly refuses to provide. Efforts have been made to make the place seem as bright and airy as possible, despite this: the sunburst pattern in the metal framework, the greening copper giving the place some brightness where wrought iron would make the place feel like a cage. Green and gold tiles circle an artificial pond, encircled themselves by shelves, lined with pots, overflowing with devil's ivy. Citrus perfumes the air. A small tea-table has been set up, with chairs for two or three to retreat to.

There isn't anything different beyond the usual decor of the room. However, the longer AlcheME! stays, the more keenly aware they become of the quiet but steady tick-tick-tick in the background. There isn't a clock that makes that noise in sight . . . what could it be?

Perhaps sea.Di knows. Regardless, everyone in the room knows this: before the dawn comes, AlcheME! will die. Even if it is not directly by sea.Di's hand, AlcheME! lost the moment they entered. ]

Comments

[inspiteful]

[ ... ]

Well, fuck.

[tothosewhobait]

...I know it is not worth anything...but I am truly sorry. I am...incredibly fond of Alcheme.

[inspiteful]

[ He can tell from the reactions that this was not what sea.Di was expecting or hoping for. There's no real point in him getting mad, and even if he wanted to be ...

... Well, after seeing the execution and knowing what it meant, he's too tired to be properly angry. ]

'Cause of Falcon and B, yeah? ... Well, this might have been for the better, kinda.

[tothosewhobait]

The one called Q seemed interesting as well. However, W and B are the ones I know best, yes...

I was looking forward to meeting the rest of you. Not like this though, obviously...

[inspiteful]

Welcome to Tokyo-F, a lot of meetings tend to be under less than ideal circumstances.

... Well, we're gonna die anyway, so I could share something on the way out. Not sure if it'll actually be helpful, but ...

[tothosewhobait]

I thought I was prepared for the first bad game. I see I was very wrong...

Aa?

[inspiteful]

I think ... unless you're from a place where bloodsport is normal, or you have a great deal of blood upon your hands, or you're just plain heartless, it's hard to be prepared for the bad games here.

[ He pauses to look up at the ceiling, like he's trying to figure out how he should word this. ]

I don't blame you if you don't believe me, since I know how this sounds like, but --

I lied about our alibi. On the first night, I went into the Cloak Room and there was no one else there. Honest. Then, uh, next day future is now is found dead in the Cloak Room and ... you know, if I told anyone that, I may as well just walk myself off the pier already. I asked YOU-kai for their alibi and offered to vouch for them so I had an answer to give to people.

[tothosewhobait]

So Alcheme and You-kai were working together then?

[unfamiliardawn]

...

I'm sorry.

[inspiteful]

Mmm, well ... I guess this might have been better than the alternative. Relatively speaking.

[unfamiliardawn]

...I think it's all just bad. Regardless.

[Taking a deep breath. He doesn't have a right to act all weepy in front of the person who's actually going to get hurt, get it together.]

[inspiteful]

I mean, yeah. It's all bad most of the time, here.

But unless I could have magically divined that this was going to happen and chosen somewhere else to go to, this is preferable to YOU-kai dying here along with us.

[unfamiliardawn]

Is it?

[He isn't aware of the alchxyou-kai stuff, but even he saw what happened to YOU-kai just earlier...]

[inspiteful]

If one had managed to survive all the scrutiny and suspicion of others, only to end up dying via explosion because you decided to listen to kid's decision that turned out to a very, very bad choice ... I think it'd feel like fate was having a laugh and then decided to rub salt onto the wound. So to speak.

[mercifulharvest]

Fuck indeed, tyrant. At least some blood shed this day will not be wasted.

1/2

[inspiteful]

[ Internal screaming intensifies. ]

[inspiteful]

... May I hazard the guess that you're Resounding Aria of Dawn?

[mercifulharvest]

Correct. This beast assumes the other which carries its name has caused you a great deal of grief, yes? A shame that you cannot find a merciful end in this place.

[inspiteful]

[ There's a pause. ]

Do you really think that?

That being said, mercy is in short supply in hell, generally.

[mercifulharvest]

Even the most heinous of tyrants deserves mercy. For that and love are the only things in Creation any of us are entitled to.

[young_atlas]

[He is]

[Very Pointedly Standing Next To Lark.]

[And not looking away from Resounding Aria.]

[mercifulharvest]

[ hm. ]

You are well within your rights to direct your anger at this beast, but we both know there is naught to be done at this point. This posturing will serve no purpose but to frustrate you when you next awaken.

[young_atlas]

I'm just making it clear I've accepted the explosion.

I'm just not letting a sadist hurt Lark before that, so don't get any funny ideas.

[mercifulharvest]

...A sadist? Do you think that due payment for what he and his Deliberative have done to we children of Luna and Creation as a whole can be boiled down to simple bedroom play? The countless numbers of mortals sacrificed for their vainglory and luxury? The betrayal of all those who aided them in their victory against the darkness, even us - their closest companions? Each and every tyrant fell to madness, in the end. Each and every tyrant will always fall to madness - such is the natural consequence of being granted dominion over all living creatures.

They were given something to protect, and instead they squeezed the vitality out of it so that they could nourish themselves with the blood of the land and all that is sustained by it. When we spoke out against this crime, when we fought against such injustice, we were rewarded for our long service with shackles and consigned to be but simple beasts that murder on command, robbed of our voices, and made to suffer countless indignities while the world our mother loved was cast further and further into darkness. All lies in ruin now, because they could not be bothered to stop trampling Creation under their jade heels.

And left over in that ruin are their weapons. Their beasts. Should they be so surprised when they learn we have not forgotten the duty they imprinted on our very souls? Creation must be protected from all threats, and without our leashes we are now free to act as they have ordered. This beast shall suffer no tyrant to live, and this beast shall not leave its duties up to the demons that inhabit this torturous realm.

This is not sadism, young one. It is a harvest, for which the seeds were planted when the first of their kind was given the power to do what they have done.

[young_atlas]

Its amazing how often people will go on long tirades to justify why they should be allowed to murder kids.

I get your world has a long, bloody, complicated history. But Lark hasn't done any of that.

He's innocent. And I will not let him be hurt for crimes he never did. Maybe you should learn to break the programming over the leash if you're that angry.

Because I don't care how hurt you are. You hurt him, you deal with me, and I've fought a lot scarier then you without any abilities.

I'll accept the game's outcome. You try for more, then you will get more.