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

[heritrix]

[That snakelike sneer has always gotten under her skin. Though she's long-used to it, she supposes that makes more sense now too. Rin frowns but keeps her thoughts to herself, going back to poking at her food.]

[blackmass]

...Why did you call me out here, Rin?

[heritrix]

You had an opportunity to talk about whatever you want or eat in silence, and you still want to know something like that?

[blackmass]

I find the natural reaction when confronted with a situation one does not understand is to ask questions.

[heritrix]

[Aren't those that serve God meant to rely on faith? That's a quality more characteristic of a mage than a priest. This is why you're fake.

...though thinking of that, Rin realizes Kirei's title is another thing that makes more sense now. She sets her chopsticks down.]

Then you should already understand. If you discover something dreadful about a person who's been in your life for thirteen years, it's natural to question everything you thought you knew about them. Every interaction takes on a new light. Especially when you're showing me a side I've never seen before.

[blackmass]

Of course I can understand that. What I fail to understand is why you go to such trouble and then exercise restraint rather than question that person immediately.

[heritrix]

I don't know what questions are the most important to ask yet. I'm still assessing things.

[His character, specifically, and the way he's reacting to all of this.]

In the time it takes me to sort out my questions, however, you might recover. I feel like I'll miss something valuable if I wait until then. So it's better to get a read on you now, right? It might even help me narrow things down.

[blackmass]

You make it sound as though you suspect me of something, Rin.

[heritrix]

It would reflect poorly on your teaching skills if I didn't.

[This isn't the murder game he helped to train her for, but some of the same tactics still apply. Kirei just happens to be a fellow participant in this one, instead of the overseer, and thus someone she also needs to watch carefully.

Maybe someone she should have been watching more carefully from the start. Would her plan for last night have backfired even more spectacularly if it had gone exactly as she intended it?]

The other day, you proposed the Coordinator's motive for running this operation came down to entertainment. Is that because that's what you'd get out of it if you were in their shoes?

[blackmass]

I can only theorize based off of experience. So yes, that is precisely what I was thinking at that time.

[heritrix]

[If one's listening carefully, they might pick the sound of teeth grinding audibly, though it only lasts for a second. It's not a conscious action but something instinctual that makes Rin suppress all her anger, lest Kirei see her squirm.

She sounds like her normal self when she takes up her chopsticks again, turning over the carrot noodles in the stir fry.]

Should I be worrying you'll go over to their side, then? You talk about not acting on selfish desires, but for all I know right now, your virtues might be as fake as everything else about you.

[blackmass]

You actually think I would bother aligning myself with madness on that scale? Hardly. While I will confess to appreciating that Jericho clearly finds happiness in his work, that is not something I seek to join in with.

[heritrix]

[...]

That's a relief.

[She doesn't sound particularly happy, or even as relieved as she claims, but the response comes with ease all the same.]

The rational manner with which you look at things is one of your better qualities. Even I can appreciate that.

[blackmass]

Today truly must be auspicious, if I'm graced with such a miracle as you offering me what sounds like genuine praise.

[heritrix]

[Auspicious. Ha. That's one way to put it.]

To borrow that rationality; based on today's events, would you rule it's impossible to cheat the Coordinator's system?

[blackmass]

'Improbable' is the word I would use. While some things are impossible by definition, the Coordinators are no doubt fallible despite their power. So there remains a small percentage of a chance that they or their system can be defeated in some measure.

[heritrix]

Let's say reviving someone from death specifically, then. Would that fall into the impossible category, or the other one?

Walter White murdered Fern, for instance, but her body technically revived. If he hadn't been killed as a consequence of that, what do you think would have happened?

[This question is oddly specific.]

[blackmass]

I can not presume what Jericho would have done in such a situation; I find him unpredictable at the best of times.

But were I the one in his position, I would simply have said that while the body still lived, 'Fern' would still have died and her murderer would therefore still need to be held accountable.

[heritrix]

And if someone died, but was resuscitated? Similar to what happened to mother.

[blackmass]

[...well alright, if we're going there too]

I think it would be a harder judgment to make, but one which hinges upon the same principle. If the victim in question can no longer be said to be anything like they were, is that not death in a sense?

[heritrix]

Death is too harsh a term for it, but I don't know if you could call it living.

[She remembers painfully well how Aoi moved and spoke, more like a hollow doll than a person. Rin loved her mother anyways, but she knows it would have been kinder if her suffering hadn't been prolonged, and she had simply died back then.]

But by the opposite token, if someone was resuscitated with no ill effects, you're saying you wouldn't call it a death? Despite the fact a death definitely took place, by your definition it would be voided so long as the victim could continue their lives normally.

[blackmass]

In the strictest terms, a death did indeed take place in the scenario you have laid out. But if the victim did manage to be resuscitated and functioned as well as they did before the incident, even I would have a difficult time justifying a trial and execution by the rules as they have been laid out.

[heritrix]

And the incentive?

[This is what she meant before, about cheating the system.]

[blackmass]

That much I can make a far easier ruling on. No trial means there was technically no murder, and without a 'murderer' there is no one to claim the incentive. Simple, straightforward, and the most frustrating situation imaginable for the one who sought to get away with murder.

[heritrix]

To put that much effort into it, it would have to be.

[She sounds perfectly calm, pouring herself a glass of water from a pitcher.]

I'll keep that insight in mind. It was a lengthy hypothetical, so thank you for humoring me.