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| Enter Macbeth |
| (2013-03-10 - 2013-03-11) |
| While recovering from their wounds, the TDA meets with Evja... But more importantly, a man from Manhattan has come to introduce himself, named Macbeth. What could this mean for the ongoing battles to restore Manhattan? |
| Mercade Alexander | Mercade hoped he could sleep off getting stabbed repeatedly by giant dark lances and smashed with ice balls. It doesn't work so well. As much as Mercade wants to explode out of the front doors of the Agency, he can barely move without excruciating pain and the risk of having his insides fall out. This is probably why Celina had to take steps to make sure that didn't happen involving making sure Mercade didn't go running off. He's currently handcuffed to his chair and he hasn't figured out how to pick the locks on the chair yet. This is because Celina took the keys. All of them. All of the keys. Mercade is working trying to use a paper clip. |
| Celina Duvalis | Damn right Celina did. Celina sits inanother chair about ten feet away, every single key that can be used to get Mercade free on a keychain wrapped around the silver necklace chain that holds her ancient magical artifact. She has also gotten another pair of handcuffs, and will handcuff his ankle to the chair if she has too. There is also one of those nasty brews on the desk. When he's done drinking that, he gets the sweet fizzy apple drink. "Mercade, stop it." |
| Emi Dennou | Emi wakes up a little earlier. The Network reestablishes itself, and she frowns, even in bed. She starts to sit up but pain ripples through her chest and she looks towards the bandages wrapped up around her. She sighs faintly, taking a moment for her to be updated by Shida. For the others to calm down. There is no arguing at the moment. That will come later, she supposes. Maybe it'd be better if there were no Network, sometimes Emi thinks that. But to do that would be to defy their very nature, a nature--most times--they embrace. It was their gift they earned with their blood, wasn't it? Well, that's alright. She rolls forward, grasping her chest and wobbles up to her feet. She stumbles to the door, and leans against it for a moment, taking in several sharp breaths. If she goes out like this, everyone will be concerned, but she has to. She takes in another long breath, bites her lip, and then pushes the door open, ignoring the spasms of pain. It's better than before, of course, but it's just enough that it's hard to ignore. She passes by Cronus Statue on the way to the front doors. "Mercade, Celina..." She says. She is about to say more when she pauses, takes a few steps back, and looks at Cronus statue who SHida neglected to mention. O_O. |
| Mercade Alexander | "Look, I've had enough of the Ultra Potion. I don't need any more, I can totally get by." Mercade is doing his best to leand away from the noxious brew. "If you keep this up I am going to find /some/ way to get away, you know." He looks up at an unexpected noise, and he starts to see Emi. "Oh God, Emi!" He tries to get up, but the chair jolts, kicking him in the back of the knees and causing him to fall back into the seat with an 'ow'. "Ugh... Emi... You need more rest." He pauses, looking between the Cronus Statue and Emi. "Uhhhh..." He pauses. He was kind of delirious with pain at that time, so he looks to Celina. Did she know? |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina knew, not that she's had the time to do anything with the Cronus Statue considering she doesn't have the things for it. She doesn't have Soft, only Isaac does, so she's been waiting for him. She has ALSO been carefully creating a new spell in the big black book in front of her, probably one that she intends to use on the poor Cronus Statue. "Emi, sit." Celina says, gesturing towards the other chair as she pours out some Ultra Potion for the girl too. Because then at least they can be in 'ugh this tastes nasty' misery together. She makes slightly worried noises. |
| Emi Dennou | Emi is seated in a chair in about half a second from Celina's instruction. She doesn't have moms so she actually kind of likes it when Celina gets all momsy. She doesn't say that, of course, but by the time she has Ultra Potion Stew in her hands, she's smiling faintly. "Thank you, Celina." She takes it in in small sips at first but then pauses as it becomes apparent to her that this is at least in the top 5 of worst things she's ever tasted. She lowers the cup a moment after. "The same could be said for you, Mercade." Emi says after a moment. "The Network inquires as to what happened to Cronus." Shida must be a bit too distraught to actually inform the others. She leans back in her chair, the quick smile as gone as quickly as it began, staring ahead. 'But how can I forgive myself', she said. Could she forgive Avira a hundred times--and it not matter because of her guilt? "Mm." She thinks, it's hard to think right now. |
| Mercade Alexander | "I believe Hades... summoned a Medusa? Gorgon? Whatever the proper term is for the snake headed women who turn you to stone. It wasn't one of the good ones." Mercade says, asiding acidly. He pauses, slumping in the chair. "I'm going to recover with time. There's only so much super awesome magic and medicine are going to do. I wanted to get started on looking for Avira, but she won't let me." He tries to glare at Celina, but Mercade glares are weak compared to the full power of Mom Eyes. |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina, still fussing, pours out some of the sweet fizzy apple drink, this time handing much larger cups to the pair of 'invalids'. She shakes her head. "I don't know exactly what happened, but Mercades' explanation sounds correctly, magically and scientifically." She explains, shrugging. She then turns the Mom Glare on Mercade. "You aren't going to /do anything useful/ by throwing yourself out there when you're this hurt. That... Judge Bunny could murder you in a second now, and Hades is a GOD... you have to be your best to go find her." |
| Emi Dennou | "Classically?" Emi says. She doesn't need to research this with another node to know the answer here. "Medusa is just the name of a person. She IS a Gorgon but anybody that can turn someone to stone with their horrifying gaze could be considered one. This is of course an incomplete summary but there were actually two other sisters who were 'Gorgons', The Network notes naturally this means we cannot be sure that was Medusa or any particular notable Gorgon." She is sitting down, nursing an ULTRA POTION. Cronus is nearby, stabbed with spear and turned into statue. Mercade had just been trying to pick a lock. Celina is momming. She doesn't think 'wait until you're unhurt' will work on Mercade--neccessarily. Butshe may have another reason besides personal safety to offer. "If nothing else, we have to assume Hades is watching us." She looks over to Mercade. "The Network explains that we may wish to plan a method to hide him from our sight. The Judge Bunny may be absolved of his 'owed favor', but as noted before--we can't let them find her again. Especially if Hades can force her to fight for him. I won't blame you for going while injured, but we should at least have a plan, The Network offers as compromise?" |
| Will Sherman | "You should listen to her, Mercade." Will's voice says, "Sorry I wasn't there, I was trapped in a swarm of Heartless...and well, LEXUS happened." Will shrugs, "It seems like they were a step ahead again.." Will walks over and gives Mercade a weak smile, "It's alright man, rest, we can find her while you recover. You ain't gona do anyone any good if you die, okay?" he says. "Though...it's nice to see the old Mercade back." Will says with a grin. and looks up towards Emi, "Wait is.." he looks at Cronus... "The hell is that?" he points at the statue. |
| Mercade Alexander | "Judge Bunny isn't going anywhere. She's locked up." Mercade replies, though he knows just how secure that room is if Evja wants to get out badly enough. Mercade, under the power of MOM, chokes down some more Ultra Potion and immediately goes to the good tasting drink to wash it down. "Ugh. "Look, I'm..." He tries to object, but he grimaces, looking away. "I care about Avira, dammit. She's running off because she thinks we hate her for what she did. She needs us more than ever right now... And the Shadow Lords are going to try to kill or capture her. Without her... Manhattan is doomed." He looks to Emi as she brings up a salient point. "That's true. We can work on putting some way together to sneak around. How would we hide fro mthe gaze of a God, though?" He asks. Will calls out, and Mercade grins back. "Good to be here." He replies, and then the statue. "Uhhhh, that's Cronus. He was kind of turned to stone. We're working on it." |
| Celina Duvalis | "Did you consider sending those of us who are much more capable of standing up for longer than five seconds to go out and talk to her? Or that nice Keyblade boy, Sora, is it? He or Isaac or even I are much more capable of finding Princess Avira right now." Celina just said Princess. This may just be to see Mercade sputter. "I'm waiting for Isaac to get home so we can double-spell Cronus and get him back to normal much more easily." She then inclines her head. "Emi is absolutely correct." |
| Will Sherman | Will looks at Cronus... He walks right up to him...slowwwwwwwly. Hmm... Then he punches Cronus, lightly across the chest. He moves to try and grab the thread that is causing Cronus to be a statue..and rips it out. You guys forgot he could do this right? |
| Emi Dennou | "Oh, is she?" Emi asks. She looks over to Cronus as well when Will appears and asks about him. "..." Cronus says. Stonese Translation: <Goosehonk> She nods once to Cronus. Not much can be done until Isaac gets here with Soft, she presumes. Yes she doesn't always understand what Will can do with his fancy pantsy Loki powers. Especially since he now leveled up and now she has to assume she has to relearn half of what he can do anyway. "Hm... Maybe Isaac has an idea." Emi tells Mercade. "If Cronus was up he could speed you up--but that wouldn't neccessarily be all that helpful. There may be other methods." She looks to Celina, as if expecting her to maybe have something of an idea. She looks to Will as he approaches Cronus. Somehow, CRonus looks even surlier as he gets close. Bap. Will removes the thread and--well...He doesn't remove the thread that causes him to be stabbed, it seems. Blood immediately sprays all over him and Cronus starts screaming because that's not how you want to wake up after being stoned. He turns a bit and sprays it towards Mercade and Celina too. Emi, however, has opened up an umbrella. |
| Mercade Alexander | Celina might be expecting Mercade to splutter. He doesn't. "You can look if you want. It's up to you. But I'm going to look for her because she is important to me." He says this calmly, matter-of-factly. "You can't really stop me in the end. I'll get out of this eventually, or bribe Max." And then he gets sprayed with Cronus blood. "GAAAAAAAAH!" Mercade yells. "CELINA! HE NEEDS A MOM- I MEAN, HEALER!" |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina, now completely bloody, stares at Will. "You couldn't have WARNED me, you damned fate-sighting idiot, you'd have expected you to SEE that!" She then grips her necklace and chants a ominious string of Latin, even as she draws out a swath of bandages. The lance is pulled out and tossed away, even as the magic takes to work on his insides, Celina's fingers flying as she quickly mummifies Cronus' mid-body. About five minutes later... He'll be okay with some rest, and Celina is now more red than any other color. |
| Will Sherman | "I DON'T SEE THE FUTURE!" Will explains again, "OH GOD BLOOD!" Five minutes later... "Geeze...Sorry man." he says, scratching the back of his head, and also getting new clothes because he can't tolerate blood stains on his hobo garments. He looks back at Mercade, "Which is it about more, Mercade? Avira or Manhattan?" he asks, seriously. |
| Emi Dennou | "GUWOWHHHHHH!!" Cronus screams as the lance is ripped out of him unceremoniously--this only makes the whole situation worse with the blood, by the by. Emi ducks under her umbrella even further. Cronus is wrapped up, healed, he flops over on his face and once he stops screaming says, "<Goo....se...honk>" Flop. Yeah he's not gonna be moving for a while. Emi snaps the umbrella closed finally, she looks at it, grimaces in disgust, and carefully sets it to the side as far away as she can without having to move. "If something happens to Avira, Manhattan is lost regardless, The Network explains the practical situation before adding further that..." She thinks it over, rather than adding anything further for a while. Cronus isn't in exactly in any position to contribute much just yet, but he is still concious and grumpy and listening. "...This one went on an adventure with Avira once," Emi says. "...We were attacked by ghouls fo some sort. I got a bit unlucky...but Avira stayed behind and helped me." Well Ang did too but this isn't about Ang right now. "The Network wonders...if she's aware of how much that meant to us." |
| Mercade Alexander | Five minutes later... Mercade is just staring forward, wishing he wasn't handcuffed so he could go take a shower and change. "Will." He says. "You're cleaning all of this up. All of it. He looks to him, and then shrugs. "That's an odd question, Will. What do you mean?" |
| Percival | Sleep had done the Gargoyle well, for it mended the burns and bruises of the previous evening. As he'd awakened, he'd found that the rapier had indeed come back to his side from where he'd left it during the battle with Hades. He still couldn't shake the feeling that he'd done terrible wrong, but he tried not to focus on his shame. And so, he found himself walking down the stairwell into the Cloud Nine from the roof, and into an abattoir. "Good God!" While surprised, he realized what was going on quickly enough. He offered a smile towards Emi once he saw her. "Emi. I'm glad to see you up and about again. How are you feeling?" |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina silently unlocks the handcuffs on Mercade. "Go scrub." She then disappears from the room. |
| Will Sherman | The screen fades away... A picture of Tom breaking a chair under his MASSIVE WEIGHT in chibi form is replaced while Will cleans the blood up. "Well...are you doing this, trying to save Avira because we need to save Manhattan...or because she really means something to you? Both are good motivations...but well..." Will shrugs, "With what I heard happened...I'm just thinking that maybe...the best person to draw her from this, is in this room...and he needs to sort out his own feelings before he charges into a situation where he'll be forced to make a choice on the spot." "How just important is Avira to you Mercade? Will you do anything and everything to save her? Reguardless of whatever she is...whatever she looks like?" |
| Mercade Alexander | Mercade dutifully stands up and goes and cleans up. He reappears, his new clothes mysteriously as rumpled as his old ones (though these are clean). He sits back down though he mysteriously keeps his arms out of handcuff range. Will clarifies, and Mercade focuses his gaze upon Will. He only says one thing. But it says plenty. "Yes." |
| Emi Dennou | Emi is quiet. The focus is on Mercade's feelings here, which is all right and proper. She glances away for a moment, trying to contain the strange emotions she's feeling. Hades. She didn't think she was underestimating him, but perhaps she had. Maybe it was foolish to think she could be more than just a-- She smacks her face twice with her palms and adds, "The Network apologizes for overthinking this." She looks over to Will, then over to Mercade. "Will ... does it have to be one or the other? The reason Avira is the Princess, it must be because--she has touched all of us deeply, hasn't she?" She looks to Will. "Once she understands that...can Hades really control her then? This one can't help but assume that a Princess of the HEart is of strong heart. Maybe being smart about this isn't the right answer, The Network regrets to inform. Maybe it's more important that Avira see us be foolish." "...Oi..." Cronus manages, stirring, trying to sit himself up. |
| Emi Dennou | When Percival comes down, Emi doesn't quite look up at him. She is troubled, but she does smile faintly, even looking down. She doesn't answer either. "You wished to thank this one, Percival?" |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina comes back down, in clean and pressed clothing, this time a skirt suit. She is always a fashionable-secretary like person. She silently handcuffs Mercade's ankle to his chair. |
| Percival | Percival looks at Emi. "You're not overthinking it at all. It is her belief that she is a monster that makes it so." He doesn't add in that its something that plagues him as well. "If she believes otherwise, that she is the hero that she truly is. That she is the Princess, then his power over her will wane." He stops speaking at that moment thinking that perhaps he's stated something that might either be obvious, redundant or foolish. Self-awareness was not his strong suit. Moving to Emi's side, he speaks again. "Yes, Emi. I did. Thank you for being you." He offers little in the way of explanation otherwise. |
| Mercade Alexander | Mercade is distracted being all badass right now, and he hears a click. He looks down at the handcuffed ankle and back up to Celina. "Clever girl." He says, before he waves to Percival. "Hey Percival, are you all right?" Emi gives an explanation. Mercade thinks. "That's pretty deep, Emi. I think, whatever we do... If we're honest and true to ourselves and each other it'll all work out." |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina holds out the other pair, wordlessly implying that if he misbehaves she's handcuffing his hand again, too. She then takes a seat. |
| Evja | Having been exhausted quite badly, and injured, in the fighting the previous day - the 'local' Vieran Judge finally comes to. Waking up in a strange environment with his armor still on, however, confused him. Enough that he stood slowly and wound up making something of a grunting whimper as his entire body tensed up, still beyond sore given what Cronus had done to him. Not to mention all the other injuries sustained. Walking to the side of where he was situated, Evja slowly began to take off the armor and set it down to the side. In his current shape, way too heavy for him to reasonably manage. Which ultimately and eventually left the Viera in a simple loose and poofy black shirt with rolled up sleeves and an ankle-length dress bottom with slits up the sides to the knees, relatively common Vieran attire. And the Veil as always, no matter how stained it was. |
| Percival | Was he alright? No. Was he going to admit it given how Mercade's heart was twisted around in circles with the events surrounding Avira? Definitely not. "Don't worry about me Mercade. Just, take care of her, and yourself. Please." |
| Will Sherman | "Yes it does matter." Will says, "Think about it...Avira feels like she's betrayed us, I bet. She had to hurt you guys...I mean...I KNOW exactly how she feels. I been there...I just got out of that hell, and her power is being used against her. That might be their goal, to make her think nothing of herself...widdle away her self confidence? I dunno, but..." he shrugs, "What I do know is that it's going to take a strong bond to remind her that she's not alone, no matter what. It's not just about Manhattan, it's about her, and we want to save our friend, who's been there for us." "But I think Mercade answered the question." Will smiles, "And you better stick with it, no matter how hard it gets, no matter how dark the road takes you." |
| Emi Dennou | Emi smiles over to Mercade. Sometimes she can almost fake being human. "That's just..." She trails off. Thank you for being you? "Huh?" Emi asks. Network error. "This one doesn't understand your meaning." Cronus rolls up into a sitting position. "Hnn... how long was I out? Couldn't be that long..." He can't really move but he can always be surly. "Y'all alive?" He asks further. |
| Percival | Percival would lean down, and whisper something into Emi's ear. |
| Celina Duvalis | "No, you've entered a version of Heaven that looks just like the TDA office." Celina snarks right back at grumpy/surly Cronus. She hears a noise, and turns to look at Evja, her eyebrows knitting together as she frowns, delicately. "Judge." She says, her voice flat, before pointing imperiously at a chair. As the most non-injured person in the room, well... ... it is probably safest to not argue. |
| Will Sherman | "Yeah...sorry about That Cronus...I can remove you being stoned...I can't heal you." he scratches the back of his head... "Well, thanks for stepping in for me? I was busy suplexing a shadow lord." |
| Evja | Suddenly a voice, calling out to him. Evja blinks and turns bodily to look towards the one who said such. It took him a moment to wander there in the slow steps he was taking, but eventually the Viera made it to the chair before simply looking at his hands in lap, likely not having much to say. All considered he was quite behaved. |
| Mercade Alexander | Mercade gets the hint. He will be a good boy for now. He looks over to Cronus. "About one evening. We dragged our mangled selves back to the Agency with you and hoped we could get everyone fixed up quickly." He pauses, nodding to Will. "I will,." A hand waves to Percival as he mentiond his being all right. "Don't even pretend, Percival. You got trashed too... But..." He smiles. "I'm glad you're doing better." When Evja enters, he looks over to her, his gaze flat. "Well then." He says. He watches Evja, wondering if she's going to say something. |
| Percival | It wasn't even that he got trashed. There's a lot that could be said about his foolishness in trying to mock the Lord of the Dead, and what a bad idea it was. No, it was what happened next. He thought that he could handle the darkness on his own by thinking positively, but that sounded like a trite platitude considering the consequences of failure. He'd consider seeking help when Avira's safety wasn't an issue any longer. "Thank you Mercade. The same goes for you." |
| Emi Dennou | Emi listens to Percival. At about the halfway point in his whisper, Emi's eyes widen imperceptibly, then they close. She breathes out a slow breath and then adds, ultimately, "You were right." She says. "Thank you, Percival." She smiles again, it's even a big one. It's almost like she's PROUD of him or something?! This cheers her up for the moment, clasping her hands together. She notices Evja has awakened, at this point, and looks towards him. She looks at him for several moments further and then adds, ultimately, "Do you have anything you'd like to say?" It's almost like a kindergarten teacher, the way she says that. Cronus smacks the side of his head a few times iwth a palm. "ehn... Doesn't matter I guess." His arm flops down again. He manages not to go into a crazy rage at Evja for the moment. "Wasn't for you though, I like Avira, that's all." He like never calls someone 'friend' or anything, so this is about the best he'll d. "Caught me by surprise with that gorgon trick. Tch, to think there were things I just couldn't decelerate." Well he could, but it only delayed the inevitable. |
| Celina Duvalis | "Everyone that is injured is to get approval by me before they leave this building, or else I will handcuff them to ... to /Tom/ and they will have to stay in the building with him for an additonal twenty-four hours." Celina threatens this from her seat, even as she looks at Evja. "You understand that I have wards and everything set on this building and you're not allowed out of it until we have a much more serious talk with /everyone/ in the TDA." |
| Evja | "..." For a bit the Judge was entirely silent. Though when he finally gets around to talking, as ever, it's in that same soft practiced tone that does quite well at playing the role of female up. "You..." towards Emi he faces, "...should have listened when I said my fight was not with you. I did not want to hurt any of you... even him, nor to interfere... if you had just stepped aside, perhaps Hades' payment would have been fulfilled and the sharded world could have been saved., and only one... would have been hurt." Evja didn't directly speak to Celina, though he did look up at her, eyes and expression rather sullen. She might could tell he had no plans of running off. Though after he looked towards Celina, the Viera's gaze wandered down once more. |
| Will Sherman | Will's eyes narrow... Will looses his cool, walking right up to the Judge bunny... And SOCK him right across the face. "Step asside?! STEP ASSIDE!? AND LET HIM TAKE HER?! OUR FRIEND?!" Will aims to grab the Judge by the front of his shirt...despite the height difference. "MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE A BACKBONE! MAYBE YOU SHOULD STAND UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT, INSTEAD YOUR OWN STUPID PRECONCIEVED NOTIONS OF SCREWED UP LAW! THE LAW IS MADE TO PROTECT PEOPLE, NOT HURT THEM!" Will only see's red...he, if he grabbed him in the first place, just lets go, shaking with litteral rage. |
| Maximilien | "How unbelievably naive." Maximilien Amadeus Renaud-Sylvianne's hand is just there, in between Will's hand and the rabbit's face. His hands are faster than most people can *perceive*, as he reaches out to grab Will by the wrist; how he even got there that fast is a question unto itself, but, well... "You suspect that dealing with a God of the Underworld would have resolved this situation safely? You are either the world's most trusting fool, or utterly unaware of what it means to deal with such creatures." Max waves his hand dismissively, a frown spreading across his handsome face as he pushes off the door frame and moves into the room proper. "What did you trade him, monsieur? What was worth harming such an innocent child to have?" Max's hand rests itself on Emi's head, and he ruffles her hair fondly as he passes, bending over to get quite carefully in Evja's face. His eyes dance across the man's features curiously for a moment before he straightens and turns, again waving his hand dismissively. "I am certain it was something you could not have attained on your own, oui? Because I am certain you fancy yourself a man of honor, if you make such /excuses/," and Max's voice turns harsh for all of a moment before resuming his lilting good cheer, "To protect your own conscience." "So? Are you going to tell me what it was you traded, or am I going to allow the ever-exciteable King of the Trash Heap his way?" |
| Emi Dennou | Emi is quiet for a long time after Evja speaks. She doesn't know what to say. Will shouts a lot, certainly, but she--nor Cronus even (who probably wouldn't anyway)--are in any condition to stop Will Sherman. Cronus could only make the slowing in slooooow mooooootion which really would probably only make it worse. Emi doesn't like seeing people in pain, even if they're someone who threw several lances through her. She may be a bit naive herself, but she doesn't pretend it's anything that's of any greater good. She just knows what pain is, much better than most, even. She's died in ways that only someone very imaginative could come up with. That doesn't mean she won't inflict it on someone if she feels it pertinent but much like Max, she feels like words are the best tool for such matters. "This one would not say they are innocent... But if you think that what you've done to me is the greatest physical injury I have taken, you are mistaken. And even if it was..." She looks up suddenly, staring right into Evja's eyes, there's determination--and resolve--and a sort of fierceness that isn't usually there. "That pain would be nothing if we stood by and let you kill Mercade." "And if you mean Avira... then if you think I would abandon someone who risked her life to save me not just once, but twice--" She shuts her mouth a moment after before adding, "You are a judge of the Clans, correct? Your job is, then, to mediate clan wars so as few people as possible get seriously hurt. I have met many judges... but I will never trust a judge that cannot understand something as basic as this." |
| Macbeth | A new face has been seen in Traverse Town since last evening. A fit, grey-haired man in what appears to be in his mid-forties, has been spotted wandering around and asking questions about the events of the previous day. He's met with suspicion since arriving, for understandable reasons, and thus has met with very few answers. Even worse, he's found no place to stay because of his inquiring attitude. It happens, though, that one of the inn keepers passed on word that Macbeth might find answers with the Twilight Detective Agency. As such, he arrives in the lobby. |
| Percival | The Gargoyle would stare daggers at Evja. He didn't speak to him. He looked like he very much wanted to finish what Will had started, but he restrains himself. Instead he speaks dismissively at the Viera. "When I entered, I'd thought that I was the most loathsome monster in this room. Now I know otherwise." |
| Mercade Alexander | "So that was the deal?" Mercade asks. "Murder me and your deal with Hades is fulfilled?" He sighs. Will, predictably, rages. Max steps in, basically right on cue. "I think..." Mercade tilts his head as if he hears something. "You guys should move this conversation to my office. We have a visitor." Hopefully they'll get everyone moved before Macbeth gets here. Mercade stands as Macbeth enters. "Hello sir." Mercade says. "Wecome to the Twilight Detective Agency. I am Mercade Alexander. How can we help you?" He smiles pleasantly, trying to not show signs that he's still trying to recover from multiple pseudo-lethal wounds. |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina hears a bell. "One moment." She then turns around and promptly bows in greeting to the newcomer, prettily. She is discreetly helping Mercade look less beat up with a soft warmth of magic, because he is technically the Boss right now. "Welcome!" |
| Evja | Even as the swing from Will came, the screaming, the accusations and hatred, Evja didn't flinch. At least... not to protect herself, or to cringe in fear from the strike. It was not like she wasn't scared, or wasn't bothered by it, just... it was as if she had given up any hope of resolving things. A look of passive defeat written across the veiled Judges face, even with her shirt grabbed, lifted up and treated so roughly. Max moving to stop the punch caused Evja to look confused, though. Of course, Emi had things to say as well, and Percivals comments stung even worse. Tears finally started to well up faintly before Evja finally hears what Mercade has to say and quietly moves to slip out of the chair and stand, walking slowly to the pointed-at office. It was only inside that Evja finally spoke. The Viera leaned against the wall in a bit of a slump as she said, "What was it? A chance... to save the world that was in shards. Guaranteed entrance into the Hades Cup in exchange for a single lawful favor, judged by the laws upon the land I stand at the time of the request and where it was asked of me to complete it. I... had no choice. I could not fall back on my promise no matter how much I wanted to, no matter how much pain it brought me." Slowly Evja sunk to her knees before simply curling up against the wall where she was, hands over her face in shame. "I had no desire to hurt anyone, and even still I am terrified that I will be forced to follow through on his request. All this..." She speaks softly, choked up a bit by her shame, "...to try and protect a world I cannot even spell the name of." |
| Will Sherman | Will's punch was intercept! Will looks at Max, narrowing his eyes...but he relents. He pulls back giving Evja a glare as he.. Will just glares harder, "No really just...I'm done." he says, walking away from Max. "She's all yours. Seriously. Trying to protect a world by sabataging the people who were actually trying to protect it? I might look like a sixteen year old, but I was not born yesterday." Will spits out, and just...right on into the... He looks up at MacBeth...he slowly remembers seeing this guy before... "Aren't you a professor?" he says, ribbing Mercade, "He's from Manhattan, I think!" |
| Emi Dennou | Cronus edges away from Macbeth shortly after his appearance. He seems uncomfortable. Cronus is a young man with black hair and strange clock-patterned pupils. He looks like he recently got stabbed in the chest with a spear! Emi listens to Viera. She really listens, because listening is important for a detective, even if you don't really want to listen. She stands up, woozily, looking over towards Macbeth as he enters. She offers him a weak smile and says, "Hello." to him. "Sorry we're a bit of a mess right now, it is not typical, The Network promises. This one will summon a less injured member of The Network to attend to assist." She's a hard worker. She looks upstairs-- --and then someone who at the very least must be some manner of TWIN to Emi steps on down. She's Omi, of course, Macbeth seems distinguished and handsome and all, so she's giving him Omi. She steps down. Emi manages to follow EVja and the others in. She closes the door at that point, likely being the last one in. "Excuses." She tells Evja. "This is not what I was looking from you when I asked if you had anything to say." Omi looks towards the office herself for a few moments before nodding to Macbeth. Cronos continues to be uncomfortable. "Oh Manhattan." He mutters. "That explains everything." |
| Maximilien | "You are a liar," Maximilien observes calmly. He tucks his hands behind his back and turns away, looking off at Mercade as he leaves to go deal with Macbeth; his hands tap against his wrists curiously, thoughtfully. "And a poor one, madamoiselle." "You made a poor bargain, a bargain you knew was poor, and worked against those seeking to restore their world to make yourself feel better about your impotence. Do not draw your crocodile tears at attempt to play on my sympathies now, after you tried to murder one of the few people I care even a little about and in the process injured another." Max's fingers brush against Emi's hair again for emphasis before he tilts his head backwards to look at Evja carefully. "You felt powerless. You failed, and felt powerless, and when you were offered a chance to be powerful - to be important - you took it. You must have been kicked down, or lived in fear, for most of your life, madamoiselle; only someone who lives in such fear would accept a bargain so obviously slanted in the direction of the salesman." "So you traded a man's life." His voice grows sharper, like the edge of a knife. "You traded a man's life for the chance to be a hero. To free yourself from whatever shadow of fear pursues you, you offered up Mercade Alexander to the God of Death, that you might ease yourself of your burdens, of your terrors, of what stalks you in the night. It is not hard to see." Max produces a flower from absolutely nowhere; the rose goes to his lips, and he is silent for a brief moment. "Do not claim that it brought you pain. If you did not realize that such a creature would twist such a favor to its own advantage, you are either trusting beyond stupidity or stupid beyond measure - or both. I would like to believe that you are a moderately intelligent entity, but you are doing quite a number on that belief, madamoiselle." "And do not act that you are terrified. Or that you had no desire to hurt anyone. Do not double-back, like a little child cornered by her parents and scolded for her wrong-doing. It does not bring you sympathy; it makes you look *pathetic*." Again, the word is emphasized like the bow of a knife. Max tucks the rose against his pocket. He turns back around, and lowers his face, right in Evja's; he just stares there for a very long moment, his eyes looking directly into hers. "You tried to kill a great man, and now you sit and whine that you never meant any of it." "That is not honor. Honor is accepting your choices. Honor is walking forward, no matter your mistakes. You learn from them. You take responsibility. You walk the path you have chosen, and if you fall, you stand back up and look ahead with pride." He straightens again, then waves his hand, once more as if dismissing the whole thing with a foppish gesture and a polite smile. "You have no pride, madamoiselle. If you want to redeem yourself, it will take much more than an apology. But..." Max crosses his arms again. "Everything can be forgiven," he adds, his voice much softer than before. "Everything can be paid for, in the end, no matter how terrible the crime, if you are willing to work for that redemption. It does not come easily; it does not come swiftly. But it comes to all who seek it, in the end, if their hearts are earnest." |
| Macbeth | Clad in his black greatcoat, Macbeth stops just inside the lobby as he watches people shuffle out. The skeptic in him immediately takes note of the various individuals leaving, in case something is amiss. He's just spent too many years going back and forth with Demona to take anything at face value anymore. "Aye," he says to the group that breaks off and remains in the lobby to greet him, "I'm from Manhattan by way of Scotland." He glances at the lad who makes comment about him being a professor and squints. "The name's Macbeth," he says, dispensing with the usual pseudonym considering they're not even on Earth any longer. "I've been told you are the people to talk to about the happenings in the town last night." |
| Percival | Well now he felt terrible about it, crying women tended to have that affect on him. "Madame, that was ill done on my part. I apologize." There was much more that he might have said, but Max and Emi say it first, so he thinks it best to just keep his mouth shut. |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina nods, then disappears out of the room for a brief couple of minutes. When she gets back -- oh, that's why. She is bearing a large platter, set with tea, and a variety of cookies and snack tidbits. The good stuff, too, the ones she normally has to hide from Will. "Would you like some tea, sir? I can bring some coffee as well, if you wish." |
| Deidra | Deidra has been recovering from the beat down she got, even after she'd woken up from sleeping she'd been a bit scare and only now is she making her way back in. She was heading for the Lobby herself a bit after Macbeth had arrived. "Hey I'm back." She calls out and pauses at the new man there she looks him over and catches his name and pauses. "Hey will." she pauses nodding to Max and then looks at Machbeth and looks the man over for a moment and tlts her head a little bit. "Welcome." Yup Gargyole here, not that would matter much to Macbeth but it is worth noting she does seem to be of Scottish stock from the looks of her. |
| Mercade Alexander | Mercade lets the group in the office do their thing. We'll see what happens with the Judge Bunny when they're done. In the meantime, he has some things to explain to Macbeth. Mercade nods, offering a hand to shake with Macbeth. "A pleasure to meet you. Please, sit down." He glances over to Will, and nods, taking that information. "Thanks, Will." He's going to need to make a choice between spitting indignant anger at Evja in the other room or hanging out in the lobby to talk with Macbeth now though. Mercade nods as he sits down in his chair. He gestures. "All right, about what happened last night..." Mercade rubs his chin. "I'll start with the short, short version. Basically, the creatures that destroyed our world came to destroy this one too, led by a large group of people who are able to control them. However, this time, we were able to stop them." |
| Evja | The amount of hatred being directed towards the Viera was beginning to get physically sickening. Being treated like this was something that, while now getting more used to since being out in this combined world... still could not be gotten over. Max's rant, ladden with accusations towards her, of her nature, of her actions, her words... all of it wrong, so wrong, yet no matter how much she tried to speak to combat it... She simply could not find the words to say that she thought would work, even as she opened her mouth and tried to speak several times. Finally Evja mumbled softly, "If... if you want to hate me for things I have done, so be it. But I am not as you just made me out to be. I am terrified beyond reason that I will be forced to to hurt him, or others to get to him, again. Wrongly. I cannot physically go against my word. I tried... tried to kill myself last night, to prevent it from getting worse. I could not, and not for lack of will." Taking a deep breath, Evja goes to stand and wobbles a bit to eventually stand and lean against the wall again, looking at those in the room. "I speak the truth... even if no one desires to believe it." |
| Maximilien | "There is nothing more dangerous than a fanatic," Max replies. "You are a liar, and you lie worst of all to yourself. If you kill yourself, it would be no great loss." Then Max turns and walks to the door. He pauses at it for a moment. "That you believe any of us would waste the time or energy to hate you is the most self-centered thing I have heard in some time." Then he opens the door and walks out. |
| Emi Dennou | Cronus continues to be uncomfortable. Omi, looks Macbeth over. She is, notably, armed though she isn't wearing a cloak or anything of the sort. Right now it's a knife, being held by the hilt, blade backand partially covered by her arm. "Macbeth...by way of Scotland." Omi says carefully. "Hope nobody gets nervous when you enter a theater." Omi cracks a small smile, this is probably the closest she's come to making with actual humor. The smile is gone quickly. "Good show coming armed," She says, non-sarcastically. She's quite serious. "There could be more trouble any minute." MEANWHILE IN THE OTHER ROOM. Emi looks up and watches Max leave. She doesn't leave herself. Not yet, anyway. "Evja." Emi says. "You misunderstand. We do not wish to hate you. They do not. This is not the sort of people they are. If they do hate you, it's not because that's what they wanted out of you. They feel that way because they feel wronged, and hurt, and maybe you do have excuses for what you've done, but excuses--are what a criminal hides behind. You are a judge." She shakes her head. "...All we wanted was for you to apologize, truly, and to see why what you've done was wrong, and why it hurt us. We wanted you to mend your ways, Evja, and to be more cautious in the future. Manhattan is their home. It would not be much of a stretch to say they could have saved Manhattan without your help." She lets 'without your help' stay there for a few moments. "And that last bit is important." Emi says. "If you wanted to help us, you didn't need to enter a tournament. You could have simply fought by our side, and we would have been grateful. You didn't need to win tournament. Other people could have gotten the shard through the tournament. It did not have to be you. That you made a deal--wasn't because you wanted Manhattan to be saved--but rather..." She frowns. "--because you wanted to be the one to save Manhattan. It is a subtle difference, perhaps, but it is the sort of difference I imagine a God like Hades would love to exploit." "We are not a group that punishes mistakes. But we won't forgive if it doesn't feel like you've learned from the ordeal. I hope you understand, Evja." She starts heading toward the door. Evja has one chance to stop her! |
| Will Sherman | "Oh yeah..." Will says, "Heartless, Shadow Lords, stupid Judges! A litterally cornicopia of horrible." Will answers, "But uh, It's a longer story, and I guess you'd want the long one...you know, with the whole disappearing Manhattan.." Will scratches the back of his head... Will looks back at Cronus, he wonders if it was just easier to deal with the Time Mage...MacBeth's lines were always complicated, and things about what he learned recently are...making things clearer. "Stuff." There is a loud bing from the other word. Oh box, you are so wonderful. |
| The Box | Bing, goes the Box, as though it were privvy to some great Secret Of The Universe. Or perhaps the toast is done. |
| Macbeth | The hand Mercade offers Macbeth gets well shook and more than a little crushed in Macbeth's grip. No pansy little handshakes for a former king of Scotland. "A pleasure," he says to Mercade and Deidra. He takes note of Deidra's accent but makes no mention of it as he prepares to sit down. Unclasping the buttons on his greatcoat, Macbeth sits on the edge of the chair. And then Omi makes a joke. What pleasantness might have been on his face disappears. "I should have never bought that arse a drink when I met him. If I had the Phoenix Gate..." he adds, thinking about what he'd do to Shakespeare if he ran into the man again. "Lass. I /am/ Macbeth." The way he says it... |
| Percival | "You have lived your life the only way you have ever known, Madame. Now that the pillars of that life are crashing down around you, what will you do?" His expression becomes suddenly very grim. "If you try to rebuild it, it will never be as glorious as it once was, and /that/ will haunt you. But if you take responsibility for your actions, you can begin to build something stronger, more enduring. And when you are finished, you may be able to like yourself again when you look into a mirror." His features soften, as does his voice. "Take it from someone who knows." He too begins to leave the room and head downstairs, which would leave Evja entirely alone. |
| Deidra | Deidra notices MacBeth isn't suprised abotu her not that that bothers her at all she's a bit suprised though then again there are a few of her kind runing about the city. She'll take it well enough though. She doesn't know of the Phoenix Gate but the implicatiosn of his other statements hit her like a brick to the face. Jaw open for a moment he's claiming he is THE Macbeth and Will's chatter over the comm seems to back this up. She pauses for a moment as it just fully skinks in. "I'm Deidra and that's ... turns a lot of things on it's head doesn't it..." |
| Will Sherman | Will looks at MacBeth. "Oh!" he pauses... "Oooooh.." and then... "Oh..." Will scratches the back of his head, "That explains everything I see...doesn't it...and why you look the same now as you did in the twenties." Will says. |
| Evja | "You are wrong." Evja says that softly, though doesn't immediately address who it was towards. After a moment, though, she says, "But that matters little. None care if they are right or wrong, they simply assume and accuse happily as it does not wrack their own heart. But if I apologize under the pretenses you or that horrible man who just walked out of here claimed... I would be lying, and I will not do such. I made my bargain to ensure the only person I knew I could fully trust had the best possible chance of helping as many people as they could. Your friend, Avira... she seems to have made a deal with Hades too." Wobbling a bit, Evja sinks down into a squat again, "I wonder... how you will treat her when she reveals her reasons?" |
| Mercade Alexander | Mercade tries not to gape. He does, however, blink. He looks over to Will and the others, and he sighs, looking straight ahead once more. "Well then. this is an interesting surprifse." Mercade says, and shrugs. "So you're familiar with strange and supernatural things? Your story must be rather impressive." He says. "Is there anything in specific we can help you with, Macbeth? Our Agency is more than capable of dealing with a large number of issues." |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina pauses. "Or I can get you some alcohol, Sir Macbeth?" She offers. |
| Percival | Percival stops in his tracks before he makes it to the stairs, and heads back into the room and walks back up to Evja. "Madame. I'm going to warn you right now. I may not know Lady Avira as well as the others here, but there is not one of us who doesn't know that she's a hero in every sense of the word. Do we think she made a mistake? Certainly, but the difference is that she will own up to it. She will be seeking redemption for it. There is not a single one of us here who wouldn't risk our lives for the woman. If I thought that it would bring her back to safely and out of Hades' power, I would give my life without hesitation. And when she knew that Hades held power over her, that he was going to force her to kill us, what did she do? She ran, because the very thought of hurting anyone who was undeserving terrified her. You on the other hand? We all know what happened. So never speak ill of Lady Avira again in my presence. As I doubt that Max will be able to intercept what I would do to you, nor would he want to." He would then walk up to the rooftop, leaving the building entirely. |
| Macbeth | "The twenties? Twentieth, eighteenth, thirteenth?" He names off a few of the '20s' he's seen, unable to pick out where he might have seen Will. Of course, Will does look like a urchin and those tend to be unremarkable through most centuries. But he's sidetracked at the offer of a drink, as he obviously missed the offer of tea earlier, Macbeth nods. "Just Macbeth, lass. And scotch." "No ice. Room temperature if you've got it. Thank yea." "And yes, I have some semblence of familiarity with the preternatural and the like." Macbeth glances at Omi again as he leans forward, his two pistols under each arm showing as the coat opens more. His tone becomes much more serious. "I've been travelling this world since I was pulled here from Manhattan. Learning about it, searching for someone," his gaze falls to Deidra, "if you employee gargoyles and are likewise from Manhattan," his gaze falls to Will this time, "then I imagine our purposes are at parallel." |
| Emi Dennou | Emi privately thanks Omi for helping uncover something interesting about their client, however unintentional, over the Network. Omi is stunned. If it wasn't for what Will mentioned earlier over the TDA Radio, she'd call him out for bullshitting her. As it stands, immortality has a way of lending a certain degree of credibility. And in case anyone doubts Will, Cronus confirms it, "You're...eternal..." He looks to Will. "...Reminds me of you. Tch..." He grunts, struggling to stand himself up. "So many threads... ugh...so many threads..." He grabs at his face, struggling for a moment--but then he lets his arms drop andn slumps towards the far end corner so he can have some breathing orom. "You're Macbeth." Omi manages. "...We had no idea, The Network apologizes." She bows her head to Macbeth, though she straightens shortly after. "It sounds like quite the story. We'd explain it ourselves, but it would probably be best if just one of us answers your query." She slides her knife away, put at ease by Macbeth's response. Emi listens again. "Yes," She agrees. "You shouldn't apologize over what you do not feel sorry for. I had thought, perhaps, that you might have. The Network apologizes for its confusion. We also apologize if we were being accusatory. After being nearly killed by you, The Network must admit that it can't promise impartiality in its deeds or acts. It is ultimately not important. We will save Manhattan. That you were a stumbling block is dissapointing, but ultimately immaterial, because we will save our home." She pauses and then corrects herself. "Their home. We are not from Manhattan personally." Avira is brought up. Emi runs her hand down her face. Of course that would be said, she thinks, on the surface it does look the same. "Disregarding the facts that I have saved your life, whereas Avira had saved mine twice, and that in of itself gives me different feelings on the matter as a result, the chief difference is that Avira refused to honor the deal and had to be forced into attacking us. The secondary difference is that we actually know her. The third difference is that she apologized immediately to us, and fourth what she wished for wasn't inherently contradictory. Isaac Hanlon had also made a deal with that God, The Network freely informs, but he likely received a pass because he knows how to deal with them. You made a mistake. You hurt us. The fact that we're unhappy about that is something you will have to deal with. I will be writing a letter to Archades informing them of your acts." And then she opens the door and closes it behind her. She also stealthily electrified the doorknob. |
| Mercade Alexander | Mercade nods in response to Macbeth. He stands and attempts to move, but stumbles, looking down at the handcuff that's binding him to his chair. He looks over ot Celina. It's up to her to meet the man's request, now. She handcuffed him to the chair, she gets to deal with this. Meanwhile, he gestures. "We're working to restore our world from the Darkness. If you wish to assist, your help would be more than welcome. We are also working on trying to find other ways to stop the Heartless from consuming other worlds as well." |
| Will Sherman | "Nineteen twenties," Will comments, "You've got me by a few...more years." Will admits, "I'm only a few hundred...technically. I really don't wana get into the metaphysical exetensial stuff about my existance...it already hurts my head." Will says, with a small smile. "Yeah...yeah he is, like me...infact we have a tie." he says...but not sure where the tie connects. Or even where to start asking, "He's immortal, I think, for different reasons than I am. He's also a lot more experienced than I am, but we can talk about that another time...it's not important to the Darkness problem." "Long story short, the little dark moster things, the heartless? Ate our world, a group called the Shadow Lords use them to destroy worlds...we've been trying to free it from the darkness, because if you find all of the shards of the world, it can be restored under certain circumstances...and the keyblade. We almost got all of the pieces, but at the last moment the heartless and the shadow lords came to screw everything up..." |
| Celina Duvalis | Celina's still not undoing the handcuff, Mercade. She bows her head, and then leaves the room again. She comes back with a cup of scotch, no ice, room tempature, and then the bottle of it, so he can promptly fill the glass, or just chug from it if he wants. "Here you go, sir." She says, cheerfully handing them over to Macbeth. She has no qualms about handing someone a full bottle of alcohol. |
| Deidra | Deidra is just settling back and she nods to MacBeth on his comment about the preternatural nd she seems to be curious about what ht has to say. "If I might take a guess your looking to restore the city as well?" She's just honestly guessing here but MacBeth drives hom a point of just how old Will and even he is. This is qutie the bit to take in, isn't it. She looks at Will for a moment. Her tail flicks about as she recalls what happene at the key hole. "They really did..." |
| Macbeth | Macbeth sets the bottle down on the table. "Thank yea, lass." He fills the small glass, only about three shots large, near to the brim. He then promptly knocks it back and nods appreciatively. He enjoys the finer Scotchs normally but there's something about mid-or-low shelf Scotchs that remind him of a thousand years ago. "I want to restore our world, not just the city." Manhattan was where he lived, but Scotland was home. Macbeth finally sits back in the chair. "If you wish to ally with me, know this. I hunt the gargoyle known as Demona. Nothing will stand in my way with regard to her." |
| Will Sherman | Will shrugs, "I don't know Demona...only Brooklyn. I'll ask him if he knows her.." he says, with a kinds of dismissive shrug, "I haven't met her...but well, he's the boss, I just eat his food...speaking of which." he grabs a handfull of cookies. "I think I am going to go to sleep...with the hurting and everything. It was nice to meet you, sir." he says to MacBeth, "I still owe you for the Silver Dollar." he says, with a grin, and turns to walk upstairs. |
| Emi Dennou | "The gargoyle Demona?" Emi asks, walking back into the lobby. "The Network inquires the reason for your grudge." They have like 6 gargoyle friends and they're all pretty cool. But evne so, one should generally not just accept someone's fated revenge pact as a thing to just accept until you know a bit about it. Then again, she half expects Mercade to just accept it anyway as the best method for finding out why Macbeth has a revenge pact against Demona. And by half expects it's really more like 80, maybe 90 percent certain that's what Mercade's reaction would be. BUt he has surprised her before, and he will doubtly do it again, and there's no reason she can't ask. Omi looks to Emi as if for confirmation on something and then after receiving it, approaches the office door and leans against it. Now it's a lot harder to open! They don't assume Demona as a name means he's bad. Most of their pals have horrible monsters embedded in their souls corrupting their very being! She looks about for Percival. Where'd he go? He might know about this Demona! |
| Deidra | Deidra pauses for a moment "I'm afraid I don't know of any other Gargyoles by the name Demona I'm afraid. I could ask a bit but most us us are pretty scattered to be honest." She wonders thoguh what could this Demona have done to piss off Macbeth himself, she's got to wonder what's the truth of the story but she's not going to press for information about that play. She suspects there's a story behind it but that may never be known. |
| Mercade Alexander | Mercade shakes his head. "I don't know of a Demona. Why do you seek her?" Mercade asks. This is pretty straightforward, it pleases him. He isn't really in a state to handle super complexity at the moment. Don't worry, Emi, he's trying to find out what the lay of the land first is. |
| Macbeth | "The betrayal of those who trusted her. The treasonous act of allying with those who murdered my father and attempted to murder me. Robbing me of my family, my kingdom, and my friends. And the ruin and destruction she has wrought over a thousand years." Just a few simple things. Macbeth takes a long sip of the refilled glass. |
| Mercade Alexander | Mercade whistles. "Whooo, heavy stuff. All right. You have yourself a deal. We'll work together to stop the Heartless and restore our world." He smiles. "And if we happen to run into this Demons, we'll let you know, and let you guys settle your dispute as you like." |
| Deidra | Deidra gets an answere, an interesitng answer and blinks several times. "I see those are serious thing but wait she's as old as you?" That's supriing she knows Gargyoles are long lived but not /that/ long lived. This is a lot of food for throught to be sure. |
| Emi Dennou | Emi is surprised both by Mercade actually asking, and Macbeth actually answering. "Mm...Never met a gargoyle like that." She admits. "Still, those are serious crimes." She frowns faintly. "We're sorry." They always do pity those that have experienced loneliness. After all, it's a sensation they have very little of themselves. |