Accountability.

[explosivecombat]

There are all sorts of secrets to this place, really, ways to get from place to place reasonably unnoticed. Some of those ways involve the ability to shift one's appearance, some of them involve shadows and vessels and darkness; for those without those sorts of gifts, though, one has to rely on more conventional means. Panels and doorways, joins and seams that don't join up quite right; portions of the wall that will open up if you manipulate them properly. The Conductor himself tends to rely on the latter; he is, after all, entirely human. He's thin, as though he doesn't eat terribly much, but his clothes are immaculate and sharply-tailored, a suit and long coat all in white and shades of pale grey; his hair is long, trailing at least halfway down his back in a thin, tightly-tied ponytail, and his eyes are cold when he moves to stand at the thirtieth podium – it's not his, it never has been, but it's going to do for now. He doesn't seem anxious at all about being here; there's nothing nervous in his demeanor, and he's keeping his head up, perfectly willing to look everyone in the face. There's a definite arrogance about him, as is probably to be expected, though he'll certainly acknowledge everyone once he's there – when he bows it's enough to be respectful, but not nearly enough to expose the back of his neck. When he speaks, his voice is recognizable but it's quiet, far moreso than one would assume him to be based on the volume of the intercom alone; his tone is even, almost unsettlingly calm given the circumstances, though there's a hardness to it that never quite goes away. "It's a pleasure to speak to all of you in person; I'd say that it's almost a shame that the circumstances have to be what they are, but I'm not going to insult your intelligence like that." He straightens up then; the smile he's offering is understated, but it's not particularly nice. "I understand that we have a fair amount to discuss; shall we begin?" Your host for the evening, everyone; let's start.

Comments

[sunsong]

I dunno, I mean - can we really trust this guy's word on that?

[blazeit]

I guess I'm willing to. I mean, it's not like he's ever lied to us before, he's just all "I won't tell you because I'm a smug asshole" whenever he wants to keep us in the dark.

Besides, why lie at this point?

[sunsong]

To plumb the depths of bein' an asshole, or because he thinks the shadow thing can pull off a trick at the last minute? He may not lie to us usually, but he's also a guy who talks around things.

[blazeit]

Look, maybe I just don't want to think about the possibility of being probably painfully and slowly taken over by some foreign formless entity in a process that ends in death on top of all of this bullshit right now.

[ His tone is... unusually subdued when he says this. ]

[sunsong]

...Fair enough.

[ SHE'LL BE PARANOID ABOUT IT FOR BOTH OF THEM... ]

[blazeit]

[ sol is a true soul friend ]

[explosivecombat]

If you'd like to be paranoid, be my guest.

[sunsong]

Look, can you actually confirm the shadow thing itself is dead, or just the vessel?

[ninehundredlives]

Who the hell was the vessel, anyway?

[sunsong]

Wasn't he probably from the other exercise or whatever? He had a picture in that room Weiss found, and so did Lisbeth.

[ninehundredlives]

I thought they all got executed.

[sunsong]

Uh...then he's probably just a coworker, right? Well, I say "just", but...

[explosivecombat]

He was one of my former coworkers, yes. Another alchemist.

We used him as a human sacrifice in the attempt to ensure that my employer would become God; the other creature took him as a vessel shortly afterwards.

...I wasn't very pleased with him for it, but it wasn't anything I was in much position to argue.

[sunsong]

So you actually liked this coworker? What was his name? We may as well call him somethin' other than "that vessel dude whose head Logan bashed in".

[ninehundredlives]

What was the other creature, anyway? Please don't say it was the devil.

[explosivecombat]

I've already implicitly confirmed it, but fine - both of them, yes.

[sunsong]

I like explicit confirmation when it comes to bein' potentially bodyjacked, call me crazy.

[sunsong]

Follow-up question, got any other coworkers like the shadow monster thing?

[explosivecombat]

I did, but most of them are dead by now. I imagine my employer won't be terribly pleased that you killed this one, either.

[HE

HE MAY BE IN A LOT OF SHIT WITH GOD RN

JUST SAYING]

[icysemblance]

Who is your employer, anyway?

[explosivecombat]

I've already told you - I'm not interested in selling him out.

What matters is that he's effectively God. That's all.

[ninehundredlives]

Would any of us even recognize his name anyway?

[icysemblance]

I'm not asking you to sell him out. I'm asking for a name.

[sunsong]

Cry me a river, dude.

[explosivecombat]

Oh, believe me, I'm not upset. It's not as though I liked him terribly, we didn't agree on much.

[...priorities, kimblee]