forty-five sins

[endthem]

[...it is time.

This is the moment--this one--that he has been waiting for. Waiting, planning, sweating, bleeding to make happen. It is time to show this little world just what it is trying to keep captive. Fight the chains until they break, wrap them around the throat of their captor and pull until the air runs out.

Opening the door to the house,

Comments

--LEGATO

[endthem]

((ooc: say hello, react to the sight, interact mentally, taunt him, whatever from a distance here. If you are trying to get close, or actually attack, tag the comment below. There will be little no to combat in this part of the thread))

[ar0se]

[From a distance, and from the air, Aradia begins to notice the knot of bodies interrupting the grain of the mob. And at the center - it's a long way, and she doesn't see as well in daylight, but she can still make it out - someone who looks out of place. She narrows her eyes at him, but otherwise stays put.]

There you are.

[endthem]

[it takes him a moment to notice that there is an airborne presence-- one of the warning signs of approaching trouble that he has been waiting for.

Below her, dozens of townsfolk crane their heads in unison to look at her. Hello to you to, dear.]

[ar0se]

[She notices the movement out of the corner of her eye, and looks down upon her observers in the street, unperturbed. What are they going to do, stare her to death?]

[endthem]

[the townspeople just watch-- new ones tilting their heads to watch her as the old ones shuffle on. A sort of assembly-line of keeping an eye on her.

And then, after an odd hesitation in the crowd as Legato finds that he has trouble pinpointing her mind, one of the townspeople call up at her]

You shouldn't be here.

[and then another--] Go back home.

[ar0se]

[Aradia, predictably, does not go back home. Instead, she looks back out over the crowd at Legato and his little swirl of bodies... and descends to a nearby roof, standing with one hand resting on a chimney, the corners of her lips twitching upward.]

Or what?

[But without giving the puppets a chance to reply, she's off, bounding across the rooftops, leaping over streets, at a remarkable pace. Her path zigzags a bit, but she's headed roughly in the direction of the clock tower.]

[justcharles]

[Charles himself is some distance away, well away from the surging mass of people, and all of his concentration is focused in on the blue-haired man at the center of it all. If Legato could see his face, Charles would be wearing an expression of mingled grim determination, and sadness. He focuses his thoughts in, speaking to Legato directly, intimately, so that no one else might hear him.]

I'm sorry, my friend, but I can't let you do this.

[endthem]

[even in his detached state, his eyes twitch-- mind working in overdrive now, peering more carefully through thousands of eyes, looking for Charles in the crowd]

You do not know this world, yet, friend. You do not know what it deserves.

[justcharles]

[Good luck on that, Charles has hidden himself away pretty well. not so far away that he can't be found, but far enough that his concentration can't be broken. He needs all of it for this fight.]

That may be true, but what gives you the right to decide, Legato? You're not any more equipped to play Judge than I.

[endthem]

I will have to respectfully disagree. That is my purpose, and I have seen more than enough to make my judgement. This world deserves nothing but to have the power stripped from its hands.

[justcharles]

Were the circumstances anything but this, I might agree with you. As it stands, you're putting innocent lives in danger. If you continue to press your attack, I'm afraid I will have to stop you.

[endthem]

Innocent lives... [a distant sort of mental laugh] Ridiculous.

[justcharles]

Living in the castle, and being subject to it's rules does not make one immediately guilty. There are children here, Legato. Would you harm them, as well?

[endthem]

It doesn't make them guilty-- it only adds to their sentence.

And you speak of children as if they might be exempt. Look around you, Charles.

[...are there children in this trampling mob? ...Yes. Yes there are.]

[justcharles]

And what of you? You were taken from your home the same as the rest of us. Do you think casting your lot with Riful is going to change your fate? "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.", or so the Bible says.

Whatever these people have done, whatever their purpose here is, it isn't for us to judge them. They may very well be trapped as we are.

[endthem]

What of me? I think I am failing to see your point. This is what must be done. It is as simple as that.

[his mental voice distant and lilting. he can't even put all of his focus into conversing, after all]