video; un: eraserhead

[eyedrop]

[ Aizawa's lolling against some tree somewhere. Terrible, slumped posture; hair wild about his face. His expression is neutral, bordering on irritable, and his voice is an exhausted monotone. He sits with one leg folded over the other, idly tossing a cat figurine from hand to hand. ]

Hey. Myself and a few others did some looking around. Apparently, both the sea clan and the mountain clan have their allies--but they're not within easy reach. In the case of the sea clan, the empress's brother is married to some far-off queen. The mountain clan's allies aren't too nearby, either.

[ He shifts minutely. His eyes flutter briefly shut, and he sighs. ]

Point being, war between these two would be irrational. The old man we spoke with said no one really wants to start anything, but I don't know how true that is. I haven't tried to approach the nobles.

[ He really doesn't look or act the part, and he knows it. Nor does he have an escort. ]

If you've spoken to any of them, what's the mood? What do they want?

[ He cards a hand through his hair, frowning slightly. ]

They're the key to this, I think. Certainly the key to actually meeting that empress of theirs. So if you've got info, or if you've made any connections, spill it.

Comments

voice you video chat heathens; un:kyouken

[justbeingknife]

From talkin' to some others, the mood's not great. 'fact, sounds like those advisors of the empress's have been crowding her pretty much nonstop. Even her brother's affected.

You want my opinion, I think we'd better start talking 'em up before someone on this side decides to kick down the door and start yellin' demands.

[ not that he had anyone particular in mind..... ]

voice;

[refashioned]

We have to get the information to her that the ambush wasn't set by her opposing Empress. She's not obligated to take everything her advisers say under ... well, advisement.

[justbeingknife]

[ o hai ]

Yeah. Ren-han said he took care of that part, but... even if it wasn't, it's still not good news, y'know?

People want someone to blame.

[refashioned]

The people here aren't exactly known for keeping their murderous desires to themselves. I don't know how to pitch it to the Empress, but it's not like her people are a peace-loving folk.

[justbeingknife]

You got that right. Although to be honest, I'm kinda surprised they don't have representatives standin' in at each kingdom in case something like this happens -- 'cause if they do, I haven't heard anything.

Know it takes a while to get from one side to the other, but even a messenger hawk'd be better than waiting a week.

[ There was a brief pause. ]

...She's okay.

[refashioned]

[A beat of silence for her, and then:]

Yuki?

voice; un: inuyasha

[boxedcrook]

What's that supposed to mean?!

[justbeingknife]

I wasn't namin' names.

[ now everyone knows it was you ]

voice; un: simonprime

[theseuschip]

Her advisors have been harassing her to start a war even tourists can tell would be a bad idea? With no nearby allies, against people who just popped into existence a few months ago?

[ this is the opposite of the situation he thought they were walking into here. the dossier made it sound like some Queen of Hearts shit ]

So it's probably a good thing she can pass laws without anyone else's approval, but yeah... we should talk to them next.

[justbeingknife]

Like to think even they'd know it'd be bad news -- their cash cow's smack in the middle of the clan territories.

Still, you don't stay in power by plugging your ears when everyone's callin' for blood. Thought we might be able to throw 'em a bone, track down whoever sent those ladies that crashed the festival.... but no dice. Trail led out to the sea clan, and that's a week away at least.

[ By the time they even reached it, any fellow conspirators out there would have had plenty of time to cover their tracks... ]

[theseuschip]

Do we really have a choice? We can’t resolve this without going there anyway.

[ also he really expected quicker transit options when he started living in space but ok ]

[justbeingknife]

Nope.

So this is my first mission. We supposed to wrangle some horses, or do we get an assist?

[theseuschip]

Uh, not sure. The last mission was my first one, and we didn’t really make any mid-mission expeditions.

You’d think if we can travel to different dimensions, we should be able to get an invisible jet or something for situations like this.

AUDIO. un: LOKIOFASGARD

[selfimage]

That is the overall impression. I've heard crowding and I've heard leaning—perhaps a little of column A and column B.

Though a little snatching of advisors may be in order, hm?

[ that's kidnapping, Loki. ]

[justbeingknife]

Hey, if you can do it without startin' a riot, go wild. Maybe we could rewrite their brains to make 'em behave.

[ ethics were for people that didn't act like total jackwagons ]

[selfimage]

Ah—I've done more than just that under the radar.

[justbeingknife]

Problem solved, everybody! Let's go home.

[ sadly it was probably against some kind of rule maybe who knows ]

Although there is still that bit about decidin' who to leave in charge.

[selfimage]

If that's the only step in completing this mission I'll be disappointed.

[ and she will be. where's the art? ]

The Empire of the Crashing Wave are newbies, just showed up—that question may answer itself with a little more dirty digging.

[eyedrop]

What? No.

[ What is wrong with you people? ]

[selfimage]

Don't kill the idea boner or anything.

[eyedrop]

It's a stupid idea.

Re: voice you video chat heathens; un:kyouken

[eyedrop]

[ Sounds about right. ]

That's the next step. Ideally.

[ He sighs. ]

If we can manage to stay alive and out of prison long enough to set it up.

[justbeingknife]

Havin' trouble herding some cats?

[eyedrop]

[ A little smile. ]

Cats are far easier to deal with.

[justbeingknife]

Well, look on the bright side -- ya got plenty more missions to go!

[ think of all the delightful interactions with your wonderful fellow teammates ]