RP: March 5th (Zeiss & Higaide)

Higaide sits on a corner of the deck, staring into empty. His eyes dart on occasion, but he's otherwise pretty motionless. He doesn't look all that happy.

Now that he is sober again, Zeiss decides to take a walk on the deck. Rainbow doesn't lose any time and rushes to climb her friend's cloak, almost falling off at multiple times, but she still manages to perch herself on his right shoulder. Zeiss takes out a little bag full of dried fruits and starts feeding her. His walk takes him near the corner of the deck where Higaide is sitting. Curious, the ex-prisoner approaches the quiet human and asks him:

"Why are you alone? I thought the loner attitude was reserved to me."

He smiles a little.

Higaide takes a second to come out of his thoughts and process what Zeiss said, then looks up at him, looking slightly amused.

"You, a loner?"

Zeiss seems confused for a second. Then he looks at Rainbow who has both of her front paws on a piece of dried apple, eagerly chewing on it. Feeling observed, she stops eating then looks back at Zeiss. They stare at each other. And with a paw, she then points towards the bag full of dried fruits with a look that says:

Give me another.

Which he does. Now with an apple and a pineapple in her mouth, she quickly climbs down from Zeiss' shoulder and runs off somewhere else.

"She's probably going to find a spot to eat that. Or ask Advoc for more."

He turns around to face Higaide again.

"It's easier for me to buy a friend than make one by myself. Maybe that doesn't make me a loner, but that does make me feel lonely."

"Hmm."

He stares into nothing for another second, then adds.

"I'm considering that we might've been lured into Sho just so we'd get framed for killing that nobleman guy. Some pieces still don't fit, but enough do."

"I'm not sure that guy was a noble, but I did see him at Lady Lightmane's office."

He sits down next to Higaide and starts eating Rainbow's food.

"They frame me, get all of us arrested and cause a war between the Sho Empire and Aluvia. And considering that these assassins are Desolates, that might just be their way of taking revenge against the world. Why are you so hung up on this?"

He shows him the bag of fruits.

"Want one?"

"Because if they drive the nations into the kind of large scale conflict that can do to the whole continent what we saw just two Airships do at Marblebush, it doesn't matter where any of us is. Everyone everywhere is screwed, even your Exchange and everything connected to it. And any organization that has that kind of destruction and death as part of a greater goal isn't something anyone should want to have around.

*Higaide takes one from the bag.

I doubt it's revenge. Though...*munch* i've not much trouble imagining that someone is using the Desolates for some purpose. Classic collective stupidity of hating what's different from you, ends up driving an entire people right into the hands of whoever will treat them marginally better. That teleport ability alone... anyone with half a brain will think to harness them. But yeah, plain revenge won't get any large group of people this organized. Whoever these people are, they have some major plan, and they're running circles around us. They have been ever since Al-Erat, i would guess."

"Well, if I may suggest something? Don't think too much about it. You can't get all the answers you want with what information we have. Instead, focus on how to stop them. I'm already planning to investigate Segregate. Oh, you're kind of new to this continent... Segregate is rumoured to be the Desolates' "town". They might have recruited some of their members there. And there's the lack of involvement of Osteth in the war. The Senate must still be discussing what they should do. If I was these assassins, that's what I would hit next."

He chews with some difficulty on a piece of jerky.

"Yotz, that's really salty... Anyway. These kind of people must be stopped. That's why I chose to become Warlord of the Exchange. It gives me the power to do something about it."

"I've heard about it. Whatever it is, must be somewhere only Desolates can reach. Something to do with that Teleportation ability, maybe. I doubt normal people can just waltz in. As for Osteth, it could be that they're planning for them to stay out the war altogether. Hard at work as they've been toward making tensions snap over here."

He pauses for a second.

"This is a scary thought, and only makes a vague bit of sense, but... if the whole continent became full of dead patches of land like Marblebush and the Deadlands back at Vasseyan, i wonder if that kind of place might agree with the Desolates better. I wonder if they can thrive in that kind of environment. Seems unlikely, but... there might be a connection there somewhere."

Zeiss shrugs.

"Maybe. I don't know. If they are planning something as catastrophic as that, they have to be dealt with. Do you have any idea on where to find them? And how?"

"They seem to have no problem finding us; but whenever we might have a line on them, it turns out to be a ringer. I'd been out for a while, so when they attacked Kolson and Rory's families i didn't even stop to think why they were doing it. Didn't even occur to me that they might've been just provoking us.

There are some people that probably know a lot, but somewhere along the line they decided we weren't worth the trouble."

Higaide raises his voice a bit, as if talking to someone standing a little ways in front of him.

"Yeah, i'm talking about you. All Eleven of you."

Confused, Zeiss tried to make sense of what Higaide just said. Then it dawned on him.

"Oh. Them."

He looks around and sees nothing.

"I'll take my chances and assume that's not an hallucination you're seeing. We witnessed stranger stuff than that. So..."

For a short moment, he wonders why this would be happening.

"...they just don't want to talk to me. Yeah, they made it pretty clear last time. Something about corrupting our society because I'm selfish and greedy. Sounds a lot like me."

He sighs. And takes another bite of jerky.

He shrugs.

"It was just my saving throw, i can't see them either. But i know they can see us. I'm sure of it."

*Sigh...

"They must be looking or waiting for some wiser and kinder folk, that'll come along and do things exactly as they want them done. I'm sure one will turn up eventually, maybe after the world's been turned into a smoking ruin."

He slightly raises his voice again, addressing some imaginary point in front of him.

"You all think about that in your infinite wisdom while you watch us bleed down here, yeah?"

"...Not here? In that case, I'm not really sure they're watching us. And even if they are, I am not waiting for them to help us either. The bunch of them can't understand us. They're only good at telling people how they should act instead of teaching them. They're more powerful, more knowledgeable: not wiser."

He finishes his jerky.

"We'll build up our own power and stop these assassins. This thing is really too salty."

Disgusted, he stops eating and set his bag aside.

Higaide lets out a weary sigh, but supposes he's talked about it enough. He takes a glance at the jerky bag.

"Maybe that's how the Sho like it...?"

"I bought this in Holtburg, so that must be how Pokemons in Aluvia like it. I didn't have time to go shopping when we were in Kinshoy, being framed for a crime I didn't commit. Again. But I guess I do fit the part as a scapegoat. And being an ex-assassin of the Bloodied Flock doesn't really help my case."

He takes out his gourd of water and drinks some of it.

"Should get that rapier of yours to a scanner as soon as possible. Maybe there's something still lingering in there that'll give us some clue to where it's been between the time it left your belt and the time it got plunged into that poor sap's chest."

He pauses for a second, then continues.

"Lightmane should get our version of the facts too, if we can trust her, though i'm worried her people will want us in chains as soon as they see us. We might be more valuable as prisoners, depending on how the wind blows, after news of the assassination reaches Holtburg. Politics and all."

He says those last three words with a tinge of disgust.

"I doubt very much she'll arrest us after she told everyone in Holtburg we were her agents, even if I shifted the blame on her. But considering I would have been executed publicly if I hadn't, and the Sho would have accused her anyway, I'll live with it. In any case, she's not likely to help us against these assassins."

Zeiss looks at the rest of the deck.

"I hope that deal we made is going to give us enough money to make this whole mess worth the headache."

"Our interests are aligned with hers on this. No matter how this incident is handled, she should have every reason to pursue the facts behind a conspiracy to push her nation to war, and she has access to resources beyond our reach, not least of which, getting the highest level scan on the murder weapon. At the very least, she'll probably find out we were involved sooner or later; best she learns it from us, rather than wondering why we didn't report it. I don't think "oops, forgot to mention it" is gonna cut it if she suddenly summons the Exchange, demanding answers."

He pauses.

"That's how i see it, anyway."

"I never said we shouldn't tell her what happened."

Zeiss takes out a sealed letter from under his cloak.

"This is my report to Lady Lightmane. I explain everything. Well, everything except our deal with Kinzh'Lizakh. So don't worry, I already planned to go to her office myself. If we are to be summoned, she knows where to find us."

Higaide nods.

"Fair enough."

Zeiss stands up and cleans the back of his cloak.

"I'm going to search for Rainbow. She's probably bothering a member of the crew right now. Or eating the food we're supposed to sell. You should think about getting yourself a pet. Even when the world is crumbling, they can still manage to make you smile. Sometimes."

He walks away.