closed / some dreams are made for children

[justashotaway]

WHO: Laura Kint, Byerly Rutyer, Alistair, Athessa, Ilias Fabria, Matthias
WHAT: Nothing aids digestion like an extradition crisis.
WHEN: Starts on 2nd Harvestmere, goes on as needed
WHERE: From the Gallows dining hall to Maker knows where else
NOTES: Log for the They Hired a Contract Killer player plot. Because this is happening in public, it's absolutely possible for your character to have witnessed it! A network post will go up soon, so it's also possible for your character have loud opinions!

Breakfast at the Gallows is rarely quiet, even earlier in the morning. The day a woman walks in, dressed in the garb of a Nevarran messenger, is no exception; people are coming and going at all paces, the room abuzz with conversation.

"I seek Riftwatch's diplomatic leaders." Whether she's come because the Diplomacy offices were empty or skipped them in search of the biggest possible crowd to hear her message is unclear--either way, her voice rings out over the din. Somebody is used to shouting. "You harbor a criminal among you."

Within the sealed parchment she holds, the notice is a clear and forceful demand from the Nevarran government. Deliver the suspected murderess Laura Kint to a diplomat in Kirkwall immediately. She is to be remanded to Nevarra in the company of armed guards, where she will be tried for the murder of around thirty people between 9:40 and 9:43:

Hennia Benes, a baker

Els Sebesta, a cook

Affrina, a servant

Victor, a child

Alia Somogyi, a groom

Paulin Barthel, a peddler

Caspar Ursell, a wheelwright

Lorenis, a farmer

Grett Petocs, a brewer

Anthonia "The Bright," a laborer

Costinus Dalca, a tailor

Vasilla Ignac, a blacksmith

Ullentin Winther, a butcher

Serva Mertin, a cloth merchant

Steffan Farrow, a tavern owner

Cel, a laborer

Isidia Stavus, an initiate

Arturo Lengiel, a bailiff

Sister Florenia

Brother Vulpei

Wilhelm Verony, a servant

Marckel Sarkozhe, a seneschal

Lord Baltas van Metaxa

Sister Amori

Lady Dimitra Ermolt

Lord Konrad Ermolt

Lord Melchius Ermolt

Mother Tylia

Sister Gitta

Nevarran guards may or may not be waiting outside the door to capture any attempt to flee. Unfortunately, their quarry is doing no such thing; she's frozen with her porridge spoon halfway to her lips, head determinedly down. A criminal is a general thing, but a criminal wanted by the Nevarran crown...even without knowing the contents of the demand, Laura suspects. And she does not want to return to Nevarra.

And when the woman begins to read out the demands inked onto her parchment, there is no longer any doubt.

Comments

[sulahnan]

"Brilliant, you said. No, wait, magnificent." She can't not deliver that jab before she pulls Matthias aside, out of the doorway.

"With you gawking like that it's a wonder Messenger Fancy Pants hasn't noticed, would you be a little bit cool please. What we need is a distraction."

Like a distraction that will distract the entire dining hall.

[byblow]

Insulted, punched, where does the indignity end—

No. He's relieved to be relieved, a sucker for that precise type of camaraderie demonstration, pleased to be of service. All of that. He sinks back into his chair, oatmeal held to his chest still like perhaps someone might try to take it away and give it to a Nevarran, but he doesn't get up. Just in case.

His attention does wander, though, out toward the door, just in time to catch a flash of the gawkers disappearing around the corner, and he frowns a little. In a thoughtful sort of way, you know, like: I wonder if they're going to do something stupid.

[justashotaway]

Laura's eyes meet Matthias', she thinks. The evidence is there in the way his bearing shifts, tilting as though he's trying to keep seeing her. If she can reach them, she can escape; there are rooms and rafters and battlements, the rest of Kirkwall if necessary. (She does not want to think of leaving entirely.) And with the way they'd both immediately tried to shout down the messenger, Laura thinks their interests are still allied.

(That is the thing she holds onto, Matthias and Athessa were angry with the messenger, not the message, too tightly to consider right now. It won't be safe to think about it until she is alone.)

There are too many people in the room to creep along behind the tables. Someone will see her and tell the messenger that a girl is hiding in the room--the only surprise left will be whether they did it out of a sense of justice or hope for a reward. She will have to leave in something like plain sight, like the afternoon Matthias dared her to throw a pebble at a man in the marketplace.

She moves to the sideboard, where others also are, and pretends she is interested in eating. She pretends her name is not Laura Kint, and she is not wanted for murder. And she starts pulling her cowl over up over her hair, trying to make it seem like an idle decision, not an attempt to mask herself.