don't wait for a knight in shinin' armor, your savior's reflected in the mirror

[perpend]

[That sure was a fucking thing. That execution was a fucking thing. Those secrets are a fucking thing.

Cabanela retreats to his room, but not for all that long. Everyone will get a note eventually, written in very neat handwriting

I do not plan on bowing down to threats and intimidation. If you did not act, it means you were, like me, aware of the risk, but decided against it. Your reasons are entirely your own.

Join me in the dining room if you agree enough is enough, and that you won't acquiesce to threats. I don't plan to let this stop me, and neither should you.

-C

In the dining room itself, Cabanela has set up coffee and tea for those who want it-- there's no food, because to be honest, he doesn't know how to cook. Two more candles have been lit-- he wasn't really sure what to do about the whole... parasite thing... so Fern's candle will have to make due.]

Comments

[matchbreaker]

You think that's the case?

[ Her fangs flash a little, ]

I suppose I can't doubt it, but Kimblee's at least really ought to give you all pause.

[chessturner]

...Kimblee-san's is certainly one I don't plan to talk to him about anytime. With a secret like that one it's surprising he didn't kill to stop it from being told to anyone in his world.

[It's not like he'd have any qualms with letting everyone here die, apparently]

[matchbreaker]

... Wonder if that means the war's far enough along it doesn't matter.

[chessturner]

Then he has no reason to return to his world. Despite everything, that man hates solitude. It'd be boring for him to be the only person alive in his world.

[matchbreaker]

[ Well no, he'd still have his inhuman allies but... well, if Kyrie won't go there, she won't. Instead, she exhales, pointing out some of the other particularly bad ones. Archer. Rideaux. ]

[chessturner]

Rideaux-san's may be part of his job. He's the director of dimensional affairs or something like that, isn't he? It could be he's just doing his job, as cruel as it can be.

[matchbreaker]

[ She nods. ] It's definitely possible.

[ She taps Katniss's next ]

That one's so long.

[chessturner]

...I wonder if she has remembered any of that? When I talked to her, she claimed not to know anything about this. If she still doesn't know...she may be not taking this well at all.

[Not that...Kyrie cares that much? Katniss and her aren't close at all, after all]

You know, yours isn't that much of a surprise. You weren't exactly trying to hide you weren't a human, and it was easy to suppose you were a vampire.

[matchbreaker]

[ Why does everyone keep saying that... ]

... I suppose I wasn't, no. It increasingly didn't seem worth it, even if I was avoiding the specifics.

[ the second half of it she... doesn't like being up there for all to see, but. ]

[chessturner]

Why were you trying to hide you're a vampire? It's not like anyone here will particularly care about that, right?

[Because, you know, there are more important matters than someone being a vampire, apparently!]

[matchbreaker]

You can't know that.

[ She says this sharply, and her eyes - already in catlike form - shift somewhat more predatory as she brings a long nailed hand up to her chin. ]

You can't know that any more than I could.

[chessturner]

[That gets Kyrie's guard up]

I suppose so. It doesn't matter now, anyway. What's done is done, and who knows...maybe nothing will change and we all will treat each other as if nothing happened.

[matchbreaker]

Oh that is impossible too.

[ She laughs at this, tapping the wall as she does, first to Hibiki's, actually ]

Everyone would be cold not to think of her as pitiable. Or the Priest. [ Kirei's ] That will inform everyone's opinion of him from here. Oh sure, some will be less overt, and we need to work together to some extent, so not everyone is going to shun the more insane here. [ Archer's, Rideaux's ] But in the back of your mind, can you tell me you won't think about how your life's something I feed on?

[chessturner]

If you keep mentioning it like that of course everyone will keep thinking about it in those terms.

[Just saying]

But you're right. So what? It's not like we'll all see each other again once this is over. In the end, this won't matter too much.

[matchbreaker]

What other terms are there?

[ One thing at a time, apparently. She puts a hand on her hips. ]

[chessturner]

I don't know. It's just that you're describing you as some sort of bloodsucking parasite. It's kind of self-deprecating you'd imply that.

[Kyrie prudently doesn't say that by definition vampires really are bloodsucking parasites because saying that would be really rude]

[matchbreaker]

[ Excuse her? She puts a hand on her hip, looking imperiously up at Kyrie ]

Blood is life. That's true both of vampires and humans. That's what keeps you alive, holds every little part of you. And for us, it's what our bodies need, crave, demand. Is a tiger a parasite to eat a deer? No, it just means that we're a predator. One that feeds off your lives.