[ CLOSED ] The Buck Stops Here

[sulahnan]

WHO: Athessa, Bastien, Byerly, Colin, Deimos, Flint, Raas, Thranduil, Yseult
WHAT: Revenge for past trauma reveals a sinister plot
WHEN: The Month of Guardian (aka now)
WHERE: The Gallows and Hightown, Kirkwall in general
NOTES: CW: This plot deals with sexual assault, revenge, and murder. Mostly the aftermath of the assault, no graphic descriptions that I can foresee, but be cautious. Opting out and hand-waving is fine.

By and large, the beginning of the month of Guardian in Kirkwall is unremarkable. Business as usual, even with the ever increasing cost of sugar, coffee, and tea. But for the inhabitants of Lowtown, it comes with signs that their waking nightmares persist.

For the past few months of winter, Lowtown locals have been whispering about a rash of murders and disappearances among the Alienages. Deaths previously attributed to exposure to the harsh winter weather are rumored to be far more insidious; some have claimed that they noticed wounds on the bodies as they were being disposed of, but any attempts to bring this information to the City Guard have been met with indifference or empty platitudes.

Less widely noted, and harder to attach to a pattern, are the instances of working girls being hired to entertain at private functions and coming back...different. Or not at all. To the average person, it’s barely even news, but to anyone who spends time in the brothels and listens to the chatter within, it’s clear that these are not isolated incidents, nor are they without concern.

While the alleged murders in Lowtown have no clear culprit and thus are blamed on anyone from random strangers to demons and Crows, the goings-on at the brothels go hand-in-hand with mention of one name in particular: Devigny.

Comments

i. old ghosts [ closed to byerly ]

[sulahnan]

[ It's a sudden thing, both the confrontation and the way one name being spoken halfway across the room can drown out the noise of everything else. Athessa stops in her tracks and looks for the speaker. Byerly.

She doesn't realize that she's moving until her palms are flat on the table in front of Byerly, ignoring whoever he's speaking to. ]

What did you just say?

[bouchonne]

[ He nearly jumps when she slams quite rudely into this conversation. The rather seedy young man - Ioann, a fellow from town, whom By had invited in for a meal and a chat - jumps. Byerly simply blinks, slowly, at her, and then says quite pointedly: ]

Dear Athessa, this is not a conversation for genteel ears such as yours.

[ Ioann snorts, roughly amused, likely assuming that genteel is a synonym for pointy. ]

[sulahnan]

[ She lifts one hand from the tabletop to wave it dismissively. ]

Fine, whatever, but you--I thought I heard you say a name. What was it?

[ Even when she was throwing office supplies at him, she wasn't this serious, this intensely focused on a single scrap of information she needs to hear for herself.

And, for all the attention Byerly has, Ioann might as well be invisible. [

[bouchonne]

[ His eyes narrow at her. His fingertip taps, slowly, against the table in front of him. ]

Why? Did you hear a name you recognized?

[sulahnan]

I really, really hope not.

[bouchonne]

[ Byerly is quiet a moment, then says to Ioann: ]

Give me a moment, hm? Go get another helping.

[ Certainly not one to miss that opportunity, Ioann gets to his feet, leaving Byerly with Athessa. He studies her a moment, then says: ]

I'll need to know a bit more about your interest first.

ii. grim specter [ closed to colin ]

[sulahnan]

Her ears are ringing. It's hard to hear over it, or over the blood rushing, her heart pumping, her skin crawling. She was planning to finish moving all of her stuff into one of the empty private rooms--well, now only half empty, with most of her belongings in piles on the floor--but she can't. Not tonight. She has to know.

So she stops pacing, and lifts the crystal in her hand to speak.

"Colin. Are you free tonight?"

[keenly]

It sounds so different from the way she usually is that it takes Colin a second to realize it's her. He picks up the crystal, mentally making the note to send someone else to the clinic this evening and clear up his own schedule.

"Yes. Is everything all right?"

[sulahnan]

"Uhm. Not really," She stops pacing, but only briefly. "I have to see for myself if he's really back. I thought he was gone but then Byerly said--"

She takes a deep breath and let's it go, setting off out of her room toward the ferry.

"It's Devigny."

[keenly]

There's a pause as that sinks in.

"Where are you?" Colin asks. "Are you safe?"

[sulahnan]

"I'm on my way to the ferry. I have to see with my own eyes if it's true," There's no reason it wouldn't be, but living in fear with an unknown hanging above her head is an unbearable prospect. "Will you--I don't--You're the only friend I have who's seen his face, and knows where he lives."

And one of only two who know why this matters.

[keenly]

"Wait for me at the ferry," he says, quickly picking up the keys to the apothecary and hurrying out the door. "I'm on my way right now."

After a moment's hesitation, he picks up something he almost never touches--his staff--and heads toward the ferry.

iii. haunted [ closed to colin, byerly, div heads ]

[sulahnan]

[ It takes some time to get from Hightown back to the Gallows, and it's only when Colin and Athessa have already barged into Byerly's office that Athessa realizes they could have messaged him via crystal. ]

BYERL--he's not here.

[ Indeed, the office is empty.

The barely touched glass of wine on the desk, however, hints that he's only stepped away for a moment. ]

Fuck.

[keenly]

Shit, [Colin swears under his breath, raising a hand to rake fingers through his hair before turning to Athessa and reaching out to embrace her. They both went through something back there, but her most of all.]

[sulahnan]

[ For once, it seems, she's not on the verge of tears. At least not yet, anyway. But her sense of urgency hasn't died down since leaving Hightown, manifesting in tapping her heel on the floor, pacing, and chewing on her cuticles.

And inside her mind is just a mantra of what do we do, what do we do, what do we do?!

So when Colin hugs her, she doesn't hug back, but leans against him instead, and immediately goes back to anxious fidgeting. ]

He should be back soon, I think. How long do we wait before we call him on the crystal?

[keenly]

[A woman is being raped, so.]

We do it now. [Colin twists his own crystal and speaks Byerly's name into it.]

[sulahnan]

We shouldn't have come back, we're already too late.

[bouchonne]

[ Byerly's voice bounces back from Colin's crystal: ]

Hoy, dear fellow. What news?

iv. unfinished business [ closed to colin, bastien, others as needed ]

[sulahnan]

The street is quiet, void of all but alley cats and rats when the trio begin their incursion. On the ground level, Bastien and Colin make their way in through the servant’s entrance to the kitchen. On the second floor, Athessa hops onto a balcony from a neighboring roof and slips in through an unlocked glass door.

In another situation, with a more blatant foe, the ease with which they get in undetected would be suspicious. In another situation, this might be a trap. There might be someone waiting just beyond the kitchen to attack Bas or Colin, or waiting behind the door to the study to grab Athessa as she silently passes through.

But there’s no-one. Here, now, it seems like hubris. The confidence of an old man who thinks he’s untouchable, and doesn’t need to take precautions because of it.

Fucker.

Athessa makes no sound on her way through the second floor, checking each room carefully for lingering staff or any sign of the footman, but the only sign of movement at all besides herself is the ticking of an old clock at the top of the stairs. A clock that she carefully avoids looking at too closely, perhaps afraid of seeing her own reflection in it. She slips past it, padding down the carpeted stair-runner and stopping on the bottom step, just before setting foot upon the floor of the foyer.

It’s completely dark, but it’s right there. The dreaded parlor, with its double doors wide open. She doesn’t look at it, staring instead at the parquet for a long moment before looking around for any sign of Bastien or Colin.

[cozen]

They aren't long. There was a brief delay, below, caused by two servants stretched out on their bellies in front of the kitchen fire to play a late game of cards and whisper about the tryst someone named Perry had had with someone named Simone, and no way to cross without entering their field of vision. Bastien had been reluctantly bracing himself for a light bit of violence when Colin solved the problem with a spell, making both of them drop face-down onto their cards asleep long enough for the two of them to pass through the room.

So here they are, slipping quietly into Athessa's line of sight. Bastien has never been one for jumping over rooftops or scaling walls, but he can be cat-footed on a flat surface, when it's called for. Soft-soled boots, rolling feet. He waits until he's right next to her to whisper, "Any trouble?"

[keenly]

Colin holds back, standing by the door they came through and glancing between all the others and listening for footsteps. His utmost desire, one he has to fight, is to go to Athessa's side and ask how she is. He knows the answer, and being made to put it to words would only take away focus she very much needs. The only reason he wants to do it is because it would make him feel better, which can wait. He doesn't have to have a history with this place to feel the history it has, like with the Gallows. And he can keenly imagine what Athessa is going through, too keenly to be of much use in calming her down. Bastien is better equipped for such a thing.

[sulahnan]

She shakes her head in answer.

"Second floor is pretty much empty, at least of living bodies," Maybe not the best turn of phrase but-- "There's a study up there, might be where we wanna look for papers, and only one locked door. Not sure if it's a bedroom or what."

A glance back upstairs, then to the two of them. "No trouble with the servants' entrance?"

[cozen]

"Nothing Colin could not handle."

It's not the right situation for a proper smile, but the look he shoots back toward Colin is approving enough without one. Meanwhile, he's thinking: papers, a lock to pick, maybe the locked room has a window Athessa would be able to get a look through without risking that degree of loitering in the hallway.

"Any sign of the girl?"

v. beyond the grave [ closed to div heads and probably a qunari or two idk ]

[sulahnan]

[ Discussion of what to do with the found cache of Qamek goes here. ]

nulla. spirits and seances [ open to all ]

[sulahnan]

[[ Feel free to tag each other or peripheral folx whose characters should logically be involved. I'll provide info if asked but otherwise this one is for everybody who isn't me! ]]