The price of mercy...

[kingoftruth]

Comments

can has truth, and possibly devo please?

[waterfell]

The flames should be a sickening sight. The stench of burnt flesh should be a sickening smell. The mood of the crowd is ugly, and for a moment it reminds her of her world and the temper of the city there.

Ami comes clad just like any other member of Kunzite's retinue, thanks to quick action with her teletia-S. She approaches him respectfully, fan hiding much of her face, and she bends down towards him as if she's one of those carrying messages from one of the other noble households.

"Mercury is here." He'll recognize her voice, of course, she assumes; and they can enjoy this sight together. She certainly plans to.

[kingoftruth]

There's a little smirk, as he hears her voice and his eyes flit up to meet hers behind that fan. Of course the nexus has brought her here this day, such a day of celebration for the Golden Kingdom, and he will enjoy watching the sight with her by his side. It matters not, that her presence is not hidden from those in the royal stands who would recognize her, only enough that she will not be recognizable as the senshi of Mercury. So he motions for her to take up a place beside him, in that guise of a servant, and continues to watch the witch burn.

[waterfell]

The eyes hold a hint of mischief as Ami keeps the rest of her face modestly covered. If there are other lesser nobles craning to see just which girl Kunzite is favoring with a seat beside him, they get no answer. Some probably console themselves with the idea that he's just being attentive to a servant faint from the heat.

Ami herself knows better, of course, and enters their easy conspiracy with a light heart. But it turns more serious as she gives proper attention to the proclamation. When the pyre is lit, she does not turn away from it.

"She thought she would take this planet," she remarks.

[kingoftruth]

"She was mistaken." The smirk does not fade, his eyes unwavering from that sight of death that burns to brightly before them. If his hand finds hers, however, perhaps to the shock of those who might see, it can be explained away as just that...

"You should not fatigue yourself so." The words are a bit louder, just as casual, and cause the eyes of several passing servants to widen. "You will be no good to me if you do not relax to enjoy the sentencing, and learn the lesson our king has so wisely put before us."

truth and strength plz

[queenofkindness]

They are truly going ahead. A part of her had hoped that Nephrite would be wrong, that the sentence could be commuted, that something would intervene to prevent any execution. The loss of any life- any life.

The knowledge that this protects her princess is what keeps Mercury steady, though she's grateful for Nephrite's presence nearby. Trained not to fidget, she manages to hold herself still, but her face blanches of its color as soon as Beryl's sentence begins.

It's barbaric. Instead of a ritual of purification or a banishment, it's to be death. Instead of a quick, clean death, it's to be a drawn-out and horrific one. Why?! Despite her outward calm, her hands properly folded in her lap dig deep into her thighs. Sometimes, she believes she will never understand the primitive and wild people of Earth or their rough way of life.

[kingoftruth]

The side glance that takes in the sight of her, this timid woman under the guise of warrior, is dismissive at first. There is still a respect, in that look, for her intelligence and wisdom... but she has become someone he is beyond. She has become someone he cannot care for, because it would mean that he would spend far too long cradling and protecting her innocence. Perhaps that is why he has let her go so easily, into the arms of the younger shitennou. But it has nothing to do with the mild look to her that passes so quickly.

[queenofkindness]

It bothers her to see Kunzite in a way she'd never admit, possibly even to herself. And when she sees the arrival who seats herself beside him... Something twists inside her even before she takes the second glance that tells her who it is for certain.

She does love Nephrite. She loves him so much. She does. But to see herself replaced, by some other copy of herself, and such a dark copy. Kunzite really has changed, and she doesn't know how to help him.

Perhaps her eyes linger too long. But she nods, to herself it seems, and turns back to the proceedings before saying something quiet to Nephrite, to reassure herself of his presence beside her at least.

[kingoftruth]

There's not another glance for her until long after the sentence has finished, the fires quenched and deprived of fuel, and even then, there is still a smirk of deep satisfaction upon his lips, and the glance is merely cursory, looking over the royal stands as his companion moves away and towards the palace.

any/all

[earthvictorious]

Kunzite keeps to the shadows, away from the eyes of those it will only confuse to see two of the singular shitennou leader. He folds his arms across his chest and watches the proceedings with grim satisfaction. There is a dark pleasure in the witch's death that he can tell his alternate must be feeling even from here.

The process itself fails to capture his interest; he is long familiar with it. But the sight of Beryl, clinging to dignity as exposed and inadequate as the garment she wears, stirs that vengeance lust and sates it at the same time. It's a potent mixture.

[kingoftruth]

That sense of another shitennou somewhere other than the stands draws his mind instantly, and his eyes find that person soon enough. There is no way to be sure, from this distance, what kind of alternate this man is, so Kunzite excuses himself quietly from the stands, teleporting to stand beside the man the nexus has brought.

"Kunzite. Do you enjoy the view?"

[earthvictorious]

Damn it. He straightens his posture, but keeps that aloof, cocky smirk that always seems to be a habit on anyone with his face.

"Very much," he acknowledges easily. "I thought I'd share in your joy." As if he'd planned this arrival. He hadn't, of course.

[kingoftruth]

"It is one that has been some time in coming. Perhaps the only thing that could have improved upon it would have been a different fate, but alas. It seemed fitting for the witch to burn, rather than being drawn and quartered."

Oh yes, that would have been a fate he would have rather reveled in watching, and the dark look of amusement in his eyes proclaims that fact easily. Of course, those eyes also watch his counterpart carefully. Until he can be sure, he will not leave the man unattended when his master is so near.

any/all

[red_gem_queen]

There's murmuring near Beryl. She looks so much like the criminal; they could be sisters, even twins. Yet the one walking free wears the trappings of nobility and carries herself with an innate pride the traitor seems only to be imitating at best. Her long gown makes her steps small and slow.

Whoever she is, she handles the sight before her better than might be expected. She does not shrink away or turn away, though the line of her shoulders is no longer perfectly straight and her expression can't stop itself from becoming a troubled mask.

[kingoftruth]

A twin... It is not an explanation that can be accepted to the leader of the shitennou who's eyes find that red mane in the crowd, much less as she wears clothing he has seen before. No. No twin, but an alternate. He is loathe to disturb his own enjoyment of the spectacle, but it seems that the nexus calls upon him despite his wishes. He excuses himself quietly from the stands and teleports to the floor of the courtyard, to where this alternate of the witch stands, his gaze dark at her prideful look.

"You would do well to hide yourself, before an overzealous warrior decides to make the execution all the merrier." Who that warrior might be, is left quite to her imagination.

[red_gem_queen]

"I am finished with hiding," Beryl returns. Though she understands the fate of her alternate, she has been accused one too many times to feel any guilt of her own from the charges anymore.

"I have disrupted no peace nor committed any crime against this world or any other. Would you execute me, Kunzite?"

[kingoftruth]

"You find a threat in my words?" The tone is smooth, casual, and perhaps amused by her prideful words in such a situation. "How like one prone to cowardly behavior, to find threat in a simple warning meant in good conscious."

He moves around her, to stand before her, between she and the crowd gathering at his arrival and her appearance, and pins that dark gaze upon her.

"I will execute only those who deserve their fate. As my own king has declared, mercy will no longer be given. As for you... I merely intend to escort you to safe quarters. It would not do for a... noble woman to be injured or murdered by an overzealous warrior who mistakes her for the one to be executed upon this day."

"I expect the same courtesy from you that you would be given from me were our positions reversed."

any/all; definitely truth for shadowing later

[aroyal_pain]

Endymion keeps away from the crowd, staying on its fringes. His height gives him an advantage to still be able to see the proceedings. He keeps his face a serious mask. Behind it, it feels... refreshing; not that someone will die but to see the shitennou (and the sailor senshi) coordinated against their true enemy.

He stands at a respectful semi-attention as his father reads out the royal proclamation, his seriousness a mirror of the attitude of his double within the royal enclosure.

truth smirk >)

[kingoftruth]

With so many eyes out, so many watching carefully this day of the execution, the sight of the prince outside of the stands does not fail to catch attention. Even if Kunzite did not felt that tingle of the prince's presence, the word reaches his ears soon enough, and he quietly excuses himself from the stands, to teleport away. When he appears, it's standing silently behind his master's alternate at his right.

"Master."

pain sulk >|

[aroyal_pain]

Crap, caught. The prince actually looks a bit wryly apologetic as he turns partway towards Kunzite. "I thought if I stayed this far back, it wouldn't be noticed," he says. "Just tell the people it was a body double or something." It's close to the truth.

he says you earned it, master XD

[kingoftruth]

"Perhaps on an day when there were not as many eyes, Master, that would have been the case. It is no trouble for now. However, it is not wise to remain in the public eye while the prince remains in full view." His glance takes in both this prince before him, as well as the one still in the stands at the king's side. "It is dangerous as well. I would rather have master under much more guard than this, on such a day."

The unspoken invitation to retreat to the palace, a place far more guarded, as well as emptied for the execution, is in his eyes.