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

[selfimage]

What do you think?

[eyedrop]

I've said what I think. We have a way forward. The rest of this is just useless chatter.

[selfimage]

We have a way forward but there's the itsy bitsy problem of the gaping hole in the sidwalk, isn't there? Meeting the Empress. So, maybe kidnapping is a little extreme, but a little B&E may be in order.

Mister Doro did say something about integrating with the court.

[eyedrop]

We don't need to break in.

[ Aizawa's too lawful good for this. ]

I'm not saying I like how things are run here. I don't. But we can't act selfishly, and we can't be sloppy.

[selfimage]

Who said anything about selfish? I don't plan on stealing anything, and besides, I don't do sloppy.

The term isn't reserved purely for a no-good schemes, you know.

[eyedrop]

It's not about stealing.

[ He rubs his temples. ]

We need to work with this place, not against it.

[selfimage]

[ she doesn't necessarily sound aggressive, nor does she sound offended. there's a slight cadence in her tone that flips over the words as if they were her tools of the trade. ]

With this place according to what your own expectations of with this place may mean, I'm guessing. There are all kinds of those.

We are outsiders fixing a problem, and we're called for a reason. It's not purely about working with something, sometimes rules need to bend. Outsiders see something different, they need perspective. There's a few good ways to get that.

No one ever said a little break-in was against anything. There may be something useful to help this place.

[eyedrop]

[ Aizawa's generally someone who follows protocols, even if he doesn't agree with them (protocols with regard to social grace and appearance excepted). When he does bend rules, it's usually because he's not-so-secretly more lenient than he lets on. ]

Everyone's said the mood is tense. People are afraid. Anxious. Breaking into the palace will not help the situation--especially if any of you are caught.

[selfimage]

Change is in order. That doesn't come pretty, Mister Sleepyhead. Whether we tiptoe around it or instigate it.

[ a pause. ]

I'm also offended in your insinuation that I'd be caught. There are other things to be stolen that are not limited solely to the physical.

[eyedrop]

Everyone makes mistakes. Especially people who think they never make mistakes.

[selfimage]

Is that a mortal idiom? Mistake and caught are far from the same.

[ she's made mistakes. too many mistakes to name. being caught, however, that was a bit of a different story. ]

[eyedrop]

Typically you'd classify the latter as the former, yeah.

[ He quirks an eyebrow at the 'mortal' comment, but whatevs. That's just a thing with this group, apparently. ]