(Untitled)

[wormwoodandgall]

Diogenes has laid out an assortment of objects on the table in the living room.

First, there is a Rondel dagger, shining softly on a red cloth.

Second, there is a book -- T.S. Eliot's Wasteland, to be specific -- open to a certain page.

And third, there is a small amount of a white powder, sitting on a sheet of paper

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[nubesprocellae]

There's the sound of something small but obviously breakable hitting the door and shattering before the reply from behind the door, a calm "Yes?" follows it.

[wormwoodandgall]

He opens the door then, unlocking it. The table just happens to be in view of the bedroom, so that if Viola looked out, she would see the various objects laid out on it.

"I have all the time in the world, Lady Viola, but unfortunately, you do not." Diogenes says just as calmly, gesturing at the table.

[nubesprocellae]

She'll glance out, of course -- her expression's just a touch too calm and it belies the undercurrent of fear she's feeling. She still faces him defiantly, the faintest of glares on her face. "Oh?"

[wormwoodandgall]

Diogenes leans against the table.

"Pick your poison," is all he says.

[nubesprocellae]

Viola can't help laughing, half out of shock and half disdain. "You're letting me choose how you will kill me? How perfectly gentlemanly of you. And what if I refuse?"

[wormwoodandgall]

"Simple." He smiles thinly. "In that case, I will use all three. After all, it's bad manners to keep your dear Aloysius in suspense, no?"

[nubesprocellae]

Viola winces at that, just barely, but visibly. After a pause, she straightens fully, looks him in the eye, and speaks clearly, a hint of mocking in the last three words.

"The dagger, if you please."

[wormwoodandgall]

"After all, I doubt you'll stay dead long in this place." A slight pause, and a slow smirk. "You know, I might use all three anyways."

"First," he continues, deftly tying her hands together with rope, "did you know that our great-aunt Miranda Pendergast died of a lethal heroin injection?"

[nubesprocellae]

Viola shudders to hear that -- she'd half-expected it, but it was still hardly pleasant -- but she doesn't resist...there's no real point, nor is there point in asking what he means by his first statement.

At his next words, she shudders again, but doesn't give verbal acknowledgement.

[wormwoodandgall]

Diogenes dissolves a small portion of the white powder in water, and pulls some of the liquid up into a small syringe, tapping it lightly to remove the air bubbles. "Of course, your dosage will be slightly shy of the lethal dosage."

He gives her a morbid smile. "Don't worry, this won't hurt at all," and then he injects the liquid into her arm. Intravenously injected heroin takes 7 to 8 seconds to take effect. He waits.

[nubesprocellae]

"How fortunate for me," Viola murmurs acerbically before wincing slightly. It isn't as if she can do anything but wait for the heroin to take effect, so wait she does.

It isn't long before she feels her breath come slower and her heart slow down. Her body relaxes and she suddenly feels far calmer than she has in days. There's a small part of her mind still intensely aware of her surroundings, but the larger part views it all with objective, relaxed calm.

[wormwoodandgall]

While he waits, he adds almost conversationally, "She was one of the suspected victims of Harold Shipman, a serial killer who murdered perhaps upwards of a hundred people."

"And," Diogenes murmurs, once Viola is sufficiently under the influence of the drug, "I have traced our genealogy as far back as the 16th century -- a deed which I am almost certain my brother has done as well." He adds, picking up the Rondel dagger and testing its edge against a fingertip -- and drawing a single drop of blood.

"One of our distant relations, a nobleman, died of a stab wound from--" he flips the dagger around, carefully applying a drop of liquid from a vial that was in his pocket to the tip "--a poisoned blade. A Rondel dagger, to be specific. Aloysius should certainly recognize the stab wound." Saying that, he quickly and deftly stabs her in the upper arm with the dagger -- it shouldn't hurt much, since the blade is freshly sharpened and thin, and Viola is under the influence of heroin, after all, but it begins to bleed through her sleeve.

[nubesprocellae]

Viola followed everything, with the small part of her mind that could still think clearly, with a detached calm. She was going to die, and there was nothing she could do about it, so why not accept it calmly? It was just the drug, she knew, but it still seemed to be the most natural reaction.

She simply blinked at him when he asked her for her last words -- there were none she could form in her current state, none she particularly wanted him to hear -- and she was, in some way, grateful for the drug. At least she had stopped being afraid.

[wormwoodandgall]

Diogenes arched an eyebrow.

"None? In that case," he said, taking The Wasteland out from his jacket pocket and showing it to Viola with a small flourish, "it's time." He effortlessly picked her up, holding her over the edge of the bridge, as the water rushed past below.

"Death by water." Diogenes murmured into her ear, letting her go.