towerofanimus | Scratching on the walls;

Characters: Her Imperious Condescension and YOU
Setting: All over the Tower
Format: I'll match you.
Summary: SPECIAL DELIVERY and for those who are't Dualscar, Condesce is looking a little bloody and burned today, won't you inquire? WARNING: THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE SHE'S GOING TO TRY AND KILL YOU.
Warnings: Talk of murder, blood, sadness, etc.

[CLOSED: Dualscar]
[The deed was done -- for a human, Chidori had put up a fair fight, though her fate had been sealed the moment she had struck the deal and made the mistake of agreeing to meet on the aquatic level. The Condesce bears a few singe marks on her clothing and in her hair, but its clear the woman in her arms was not given a quick and painless death. There is a telltale trail of blood that leads from Floor 10 down to the doorway she stands at now. Her weapon hides behind her in the nest of hair that carpets the stairs as she descends.

The Condesce herself is smeared with red -- normally a state she would be disgusted to find herself in. Today is different -- in fact, she was finding that many things that used to bother her were seeming less and less significant these days. There's deadly purpose in her eye, almost a crazed and unhinged sort of focus that doesn't reach the rest of her face.

The Empress taps the door with a heel -- once, twice. Very formal. Very official. If the Orphaner wanted her so badly, then she would oblige him...and make him regret his choices every step of the way.]

[OPEN]
[Where ever the Condesce is, she's covered in red blood, some of which appears to have soaked into her clothing, indicating that whatever she had killed was murdered hours ago. Her posture is tall, accomplished, though a bit too twitchy to trust. Every noise seems to catch her attention like a lioness waiting for its prey.

She appears unarmed, until she shifts a shoulder and the gleam of her golden trident his visible under all of her hair. Its prongs are still red with Chidori's blood.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[he hears the knocking, but it doesn't quite register.

it'd been hours since chidori had televised her message to the network; a few since signless had departed him. he remained just as he'd been left by them, to stare idly to the floor-- retracing the days that had led up to this; the months, even, and where exactly he'd gone wrong. the future was out of the question, for as far as he was concerned, there wasn't much of one to be had.

amazing, how in such a short span of time, he'd managed to lose the one that meant everything to him (that's wrong, though, because there's more to it, with another having just signed her death certificate on his account). and he'd barely done a thing to stop it, either: whether because he wouldn't, or because he wasn't ever able to. the misery is just beginning to kick in, and he's in it for the longhaul.

she can knock all she wants, but no one's there.]

[Of course. That would be typical, wouldn't it?

Unfortunately for Dualscar, he's getting this delivery whether he likes it or not, even if she has to lay Chidori in his bed for him to find.

She had tried one more time to knock, but when its clear that its not going to work, the tyrian rapidly loses her patience. The Empress pauses to address how the door is put together before squaring her shoulders and adjusting her weight...

Before she throws her entire body into it with the intent to snap the lock and break it open. She'll do it until it opens somehow, but she won't enter the room right away.]

[see, that's a little harder to ignore. he stands, wearily, his hand automatically going to the hilt of his weapon. because he hasn't made the convoluted connection, thinks the last person she would want to see is him. but before he begins his agonizingly slow trek to the door, the lock breaks.

he stops midstep, draws his sword, and waits for the perpetrator to show theirself.]

[The Condesce enters wordlessly, a dark expression fixed on her face. With her so far away from the planet so often, it was easy to forget her roots, despite the footprint she left on the planet's caste system. Being raised and sharing a mind with a horrorterror left certain lasting impressions -- one of them was that soulless gaze she set on Dualscar.

She remains perfectly silent and still, the only sign of her breathing at all being the slow rise and fall of her chest. She waits a few more seconds so that the troll in front of her can digest her bloodsoaked visage before she tosses Chidori's body on the floor rather unceremoniously.

Only after this will she finally speak, her tone little more than a distant and haunting echo.]

Wrong answer.

[dualscar remains still for the moment, as he finds that only thing he can do is stare. even if they weren't in such circumstances, it would still be the only thing he could do-- the thought of taking direct action against her had still never crossed his mind, thus the catastrophe in his midst. if he were warm-blooded to begin with, it'd be running cold.

he's become numb to all but for the twinge of pain in his chest; knees growing weak so that he kneels to the ground. with trembling actions seemingly not of his own accord, he cradles chidori to his chest, staining himself with blood.

he can't look at the empress any longer, just like before. he can't look to her any longer, which is different this time. and still, just as always it seems, there is nothing to say. because there hadn't been any other outcome, really, and he'd barely even attempted to change it.]

[In retrospect, Lina really should have asked the Signless what the three individuals he was talking about looked like, so that she wasn't suspicious of every non-human being she encountered.

On the other hand, this woman is covered in blood and burn marks, and looks far too proud of it, so suspicion is warranted.

However, if anything, she's brazen in the face of danger.]

...bad day?

[The seadweller sneers downward briefly, but the expression shatters to a smirk that's far too straight to be normal.]

Quite the opposite, actually.

[Which was a big lie, but hey, death and blood on her hands was always something that turned the day around. She doesn't remember this voice from the huge group that had tried to threaten her on Chidori's network post, so she doesn't react other than that.]

I see...

[Yeesh, those expressions were rather unsettling.]

...well, making faces like that, and what I'm gonna guess isn't wine all over you, I'm going to guess that it's from bringing a bad day down on someone else.

I suppose you'll have to inquire about that when she returns, won't you?

[Which is to say yes, yes she did.]

[Lina starts to back away - putting distance between herself and this lady would be ideal at the moment.]

So would it be safe to say that I should be feeling threatened right now?

[Romeo saw the Condesce and frowned, he knew she wasn't a very good person and Vriska had told him that he should talk to her about the fact she thought some people weren't important at all just because their blood was different. It seemed really unfair.

But that wasn't really why he was frowning, it was the blood on her clothing that made her frown. He knew that trolls had different coloured blood but the blood was red, which means she had killed someone, it wasn't her own.]

What did you do?

[Condesce's attention is easily grabbed, which is probably not a good thing.]

A lesson was given. A lesson about what happens when someone sticks their nose where it doesn't belong.

[That was a hint, Romeo.]

[Romeo is really good at not taking hints.] You hurt someone didn't you miss? That wasn't a very nice thing to do! [She wasn't one of the bad people who brought them here, even if she dd bad things she probably just had never been taught how to be nice. Like Signless said, sometimes you just had help teach people.

Guess who missed Signless' warning on the network?]

[A few books tucked under her arm, Rose does not seem to bat an eye when she happens upon the Condesce. One eyebrow arches, her shoulders tense, but she is quite good at concealing any other type of reaction.

Well, well.]

There's no short of surprises here, it seems.

Scratching on the walls;

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