Unfolding Information

[Borovsky]

Martin smirked as the girl's words brought ire from the Regus. Her mouth would get her killed despite her actions. It was amusing that she had so little care for her own life. She knew she would die and she didn't care. Martin wondered if he was aware of his own demise if he'd take it so casually. Of course everyday was always a day you could die. It was the way of most Atharim. But the little girl here knew she sat in the hornets nest and still she stirred it.

She however did have a point. Why was the Regus questioning her again over things he had gone through thoroughly. But Martin wasn't going to show any signs of unease not to her nor to the Regus. But it did beg to question why Martin had done the work to insure her stability as an Atharim. He watched and waited for the blow up he knew was going to happen. The Regus would not let her unanswered question die he was sure of it. She stirred the pot on purpose.

[Armande]

Armande's eyes glittered at her words and then flicked to Martins. She was needling him. She wanted power over him. He wouldn't let the child goad him further. She was trying to provoke a reaction.

She was whining at fate or God or himself- whoever had put her in this position. Trapped between two powerful men. If he were a different man, he would have felt pity for her. But he did not. She was a tool, like any other. One whose vision was only her own survival. A creature that would not rise above petty self-interest.

Cooly, he replied to her. "You seem to think you are on trial at the moment, little bird. I have your report. I have heard my Metatron's account." Calm. Be calm. "I would like to hear it from your lips. I have questions for you. Perhaps you can stop assuming what you think you know- what you THINK!"- he reigned in his words- "this is about, and instead answer me."

[Aria]

Aria laughed in her mind but stayed quiet as she muttered to herself. "When am I not on trial - your fucking pet Sentient."
She didn't care whether or not they heard what she said.

Aria decided indulging him was the only way this would move forward. She didn't know how her accounting the Ijiraq killing had any merit to this particular case... it was a lucky kill by all accounts but the real one. "A mist creature attacked a man I met in Novodevichy Monastery's cemetery I scared it away with my sword. I did my research, found nothing of merit on it except that they were old creatures. But I started searching anyway tracking what I remembered of it's instinctual feeling. I went block by block, street by street methodically searching the city for it. It found a man. I caught it feeding whatever they feed on I do not know."
It was the first lie - the Ijiraq was feeding on the power of the gods. "A second man came upon us and the creature was distracted. I had my sword ready and when it materialized before me I took the shot. Being distracted with food and another it made it's landing and it was dead."
There was another man present but Connor really was not relevant to the story so she omitted his presence. And of course the actual battle that ensued - godlings she didn't try to kill would be bad. But Aria knew the story forwards backwards and in every possible way. Her lies were straight in her head - they had to be.


Edited by Aria, Aug 8 2016, 01:43 PM.

[Armande]

Armande smiled faintly, ignoring her muttering. Children were always petty. There it was, though. The story he wanted to hear. Very much in line with what she had written, with what she had told Martin.

But you could not interrogate a piece of paper. You could not question a second-hand account. And he had questions for her. Ijiraq were rare- he'd encountered them only a few times in his hunts. Very few Atharim had. In general, they appeared to have stayed dormant, having been crafted to serve at one time.

He was not so foolish to believe that his experience was the only one that mattered. A true tactician studied every account, every experience. To have been able to question Qi Jiguang in his campaign against the Wokou pirates would have been a gift, to study the stab, riposte, parry, and feint of the battle, and see why he responded the way he did.

Every battle, every skirmish was unpredictable. A true general looked for the whole picture. He wanted to win the war, not the encounter. Something this girl did not understand. She was a weapon who gave little thought to the future, beyond her own skin in the here and now. Perhaps it was a flaw in her race. Legends regarding sentients were rare. Only the barest information remained, though he had scoured the histories for them- and none of them consistent. A few tantalizing clues, though....

But not his concern at the moment. His attention focused like the point of a blade at her heart. "The man it attacked in the cemetary. Did it 'feed' on him? What happened to him?" She wasn't on trial, not yet. But if the Ijiraq had attacked a reborn god- which had been their primary targets- what happened to him? Had he escaped or had he been killed? And the other two men? "And what happened to the man it...'fed' upon you, discovered later?"

Beyond those questions specifically about her, though- and god help her if the answers were not correct- he was thinking. Killing Ijiraq was one of the more difficult challenges. Distraction was a novel approach, one few thought of. There were other avenues that were more fruitful and easier to set up. Not that she had thought of it, according to her. It had merely been the circumstances- though she had been quick to take advantage.

He hoped that remained the case.


Edited by Regus, Aug 8 2016, 04:02 PM.

[Aria]

Aria shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose it was feeding off of him. Why else would it attack? It felt hungry."
It's not like she was implicating Dane. Her initial reaction having been to protect Dane. But Aria hadn't collected his information. At least not for Atharim purposes. No one knew the names of any involved. They were safe for now.

It was the latter question that made Aria worry. What had happened to them. "I don't know. I went in search of the Ijiraq after the first one without collecting any information. The second set disappeared while I was calling in a clean up. I didn't see the need to peruse them."



Edited by Aria, Aug 9 2016, 11:49 AM.

[Armande]

The room was silent as Armande studied her for a moment, thinking over her response. Martin stood behind the girl, still as death, the tick of the ancient clock the only sound. Armande let his hand rest on the opened package on his desk, feeling what was inside. He needed confirmation. The risk would be too great, otherwise.

He thought back to Martin's report on this girl. He changed his angle. She was sulky and dealing with her was rapidly becoming a chore. Far more grating than just because she was a sentient in their midst. "I understand that you are able to tell if a person is holding the power of the reborn gods, is that correct?" He did not wait for her to answer. He did not wish to hear more of her glib remarks than was strictly necessary.

Quietly he asked, "Tell me, were any of these men doing so?" If so...good. That she let them go was for another time. Perhaps. It was not mercy to one such as her he was showing. There was no room for mercy in this war. No. The fight against gods had to be fought intelligently.

[Aria]

There was only one answer to that - to save herself and to save those she'd let go on purpose and that was a complete lie. Aria answered simply. "No."
then added to her answer. " My report would have included the god status had I encountered one. They were not empty."
. It was a lie she was maintaining from the beginning. She couldn't omit their presence, she could keep names at bay, but their presence was required and she had let them go knowing fully well they were gods. "Father Stone's daughter was my first godling I'd ever encounter."
The only one on record anyway.

[Armande]

The rush of her answer gave way to silence, the tick of the ancient clock the only sound again. She had spoken simply and quickly. Armande's blue eyes searched hers for a sign, for any indicator. He did not trust her, of course, could never trust her. But he could trust her sense of self-preservation.

So...was it in her best interests to lie? Sadly, there was no way to know for sure, at this very moment. It would not be unexpected for her to fear revealing that she had come into contact with gods in these encounters with the ijiraq and had simply been unable to do anything about them. Understandable, if maddening. His encounter with Vellas and the Naga came to mind. But the fact that he could conceive of an Atharim with-holding information indicated that it had likely been done- if not by this girl, then by others.

Inwardly, he sighed at this late realization. He had assumed it would be understood. Hunting the gods was paramount. But it had to be done intelligently. One did not kill oneself in fruitless attacks. Those fools who had thought to take down Apollyon in a head on confrontation had earned their reward. But he could see how others might perceive his zeal for hunting down gods. He would need to communicate this to others. Not a blanket amnesty. The new High Inquisitor would continue to need to do his work of keeping the Atharim pure.

But perhaps an edict indicating that if an Atharim had come across a god and was not in a place to do anything about it, that did not, in and of itself, constitute betrayal or treachery. Father Stone's execution was for concealing a god, not simply coming across one.

Not that he would put this girl's mind at ease with any such admission. He knew her kind. Not as a sentient. As a person. Her mouth indicated as much, a flippant, fatalistic attitude. He had once been hunting a drakaina in Monte Carlo, which had necessitated staking out a gambling establishment. The atmosphere of sad desperation and greedy hunger had been cloying. Never before had he felt such a sense of contempt for humanity. At one of the baccarat tables he had watched in fascination as a man doubled down on one bad wager after another, asking for a card again and again from the banker, a fatalist roll of the 'dice'. This girl had an air of that. If he asked her again, he knew her answer would stay the same, regardless of its truth.

In the end, this had been a fruitless hunt for information. He had his assumptions that seemed likely. Her words had neither confirmed nor disproved them. He would have to act regardless.

He lifted his hand from the package and once again picked up the hourglass pendant, changing the subject. "You said Ascendancy pulled this from the ground. I assume your 'secret way' into the quarters of the Ascendancy have something to do with how you acquired this?"

[Aria]

Aria blinked at him. He asked such stupid questions sometimes it was hard not to respond with a flippant answer. No, I took it off his dead body. No, I bought it from the market as it was a perfect replica. No, I walked into the front door, down the stairs a billion flights and took it. No, he gave it to me. The latter two where actually not far from the truth. It wasn't the front door of course, and it was eventually an elevator and not stairs but still they weren't far from the truth and Aria almost said them because he'd never believe them.

Aria nodded her ascent. "Yes, I procured that from his residence through a door I found while watching the Kremlin for such things. My ability comes in handy when people are hiding things."

[Armande]

The girl seemed to struggle with civility. Armande felt relief at knowing that their use of her was rapidly coming to an end. It would well to wash his hands of her once and for all.

But for now, she still had her uses."Tell us about this entrance you found. Location. Details. Security. The path you took. I want you to leave nothing out, no matter how small."

His blue eyes burned like embers but inside he felt a thrill. If they had a way in, if Daniat's gift was what he hoped, if they were armed with the weapons Theis had procured for them, if surprise was on their side....well then. The great beast might die be slain after all. And who knew how he'd feel then. The gods would remain. But the greatest enemy defeated.

The girl might even earn another reprieve for such service.