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[holyposition]

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t.laughlin

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[unapparent]

You speak true.

I think it more than one person, given the sheer number killed in the night.

[holyposition]

Six, and another attempted. It has to be more than one.

There can't be that many people willing to play this place's cruel games.

[unapparent]

We have not always been so willing in their games of pleasure, either.

[ and the balfours intended a game of survival last night. whose to say they are all themselves, uninfluenced by the manor and its magics? ]

[holyposition]

If we have been compelled to be a danger to others, we have an obligation to turn ourselves in. Nobody has done so. If not willing, then they're complicit.

[unapparent]

Indeed.

[ a beat. ]

Do you think our gods seek to punish us for our sins?

[holyposition]

...i don't know.

I thought we were in purgatory. To cleanse our souls and make us worthy of invitation into heaven.
But Embry was killed. And to do that is the opposite of a cleansing, the culprit's soul ought to have been decided right then and there. Straight to hell, the shot at redemption wasted. But no one disappeared that day but Embry.

Maybe we're in Hell. maybe we're here to eat each other alive and kill each other but with just enough freedom to give us hope and make the losses sting harder.

[unapparent]

[ okay, that’s dark! ]

I do not think we could be in your hell, when it has brought me to one as good as you, Tim.

[holyposition]

[ Well the only thing keeping the existential meltdown at bay is investigating the murders, so if she doesn't want it, don't bring it up! ]

You're incredibly kind.

You should come stay with me again. If Aemond is finding another place to stay for his safety, so should you.

[unapparent]

Only to you.

[ a jape. ]

I would not endanger you and Hawk so. Lestat will be protection enough, for the moment.

[holyposition]

Someone will point at Lestat.

A blond vampire fits the description for two different murders, Alicent. Three, if you're close to him, and he has motivation to attack your perceived enemies.

[unapparent]

We’re not so close that I informed him of my blood feud, Tim.

[ it is not her place to say the love he has for Louis would shield her, so she keeps it to herself. tim speaks wisely. her father would scold her for her foolishness. ]

I will take the measure of him myself. My Aemond will be accused and I know him to be innocent. I cannot judge another without questioning them.

[holyposition]

Not three then. But two. People will be suspicious either way.

"If not Aemond, then who?" I can hear it already.

[unapparent]

I would not single out an innocent for the sake of my son. A queen counts the cost to her people.

[ and yet, ]

I intend to question Daemon as well. It is widely believed that he killed his first wife. I do not know that he would spare Rhaenyra, when she stands between him and the throne.

[holyposition]

Aemond doesn't think he's above it. If what he says is true, he's an animal.

[unapparent]

I do not wish to take Baela’s father from her, but I cannot trust him. Perhaps if he were imprisoned, we might bide ourselves time to investigate further.

Even my husband, his own brother, did not think him loyal and true.

And if the blond hair is that of a killer, not a lover, who else could it be? Lestat? We ought review what we learned from Butler, garish as it was.

[holyposition]

Imprisonment would be the appropriate response, if it's him, as sad as that is for Miss Baela. Lady Baela?

Aemond told me that he sent assassins for him in the night, and killed a child instead. To remove opposition and make it look like your son did it is a similar, cowardly tactic.

The doctors said Jacaerys didn't struggle. So, as far as I can figure, there are three possibilities.
1) it was someone that he trusted
2) he was drugged - Baela doesn't believe this is likely because he was meant to meet her after the party rather than linger, but he could have been drugged forcefully.
or 3) some kind of magic. vampires have the ability to force people into a calm state, it's been used on me before. there might be similar enchantments from others.

She said he had a blond friend named Caroline. I don't know her at all.

Alia?

[unapparent]

Lady Baela.

It is true. Daemon took my grandson from this world. His catspaw made my daughter choose between her babes and slit Jaeharys’ throat before her very eyes.

Given that Bella and House knew of the drugs affecting Erik, they are like to have noticed if Jace was similarly afflicted.

I know nothing of Caroline. A woman in the application, Tiffany, is a professed murderer and blond of hair. Alia has a fondness for the lake, though I mislike accusing her, when she has been good to me and mine. Lestat is the only blond among the vampires, is he not? Daniel is indisposed and white of hair, besides.

[holyposition]

I don't know what to say, other than I'm sorry. That's barbaric. He should be behind bars whether he killed anyone last night or not.

Maybe they didn't think to test him, because it looked so obvious that he'd drowned.

I don't know Tiffany either. But from the looks of this profile I'm better off that way.

Alia has been good to me as well. She is also a professed murderer, and has the power to control minds. She could have made him walk into the lake without a struggle. Lestat's the only blond that I'm aware of.

[unapparent]

For the love Rhaenyra and my lord husband held for him, I would have him tried fairly.

[ and that is the only mercy she can muster, for one who stole rhaenyra’s innocence and life after life. ]

If you question Alia, I will enquire after Lestat, and we can share our findings.

Homelander is fond of me and now stands accused. Perhaps it would be wise for him to raise a name, when the crowd is watching him already.

[holyposition]

I don't know that we will have the luxury of fairness. This "game" is designed to turn us into an angry mob.

Alia is close with Alina. She's furious. Threatening to kill whoever did it.

Would he, if you gave him one?

[unapparent]

I have believed division the goal since the bloody feast. This accelerates that aim.

If he thought it based in sense, he would.

[ and maybe even if he didn’t……………. ]

[holyposition]

We have three potential options, then. One of which is known already to be a danger to you.

[unapparent]

Tim.
I intend to treat with Daemon first.

[ she was already sick this morning, and she hasn’t eaten since, but her stomach churns and churns and churns. tim is too good for this. she has poisoned him the same as ser criston. ]

It would not be wise to bring my family into it unless Aemond is named. Let us wait.

[holyposition]

I won't make any hasty accusations.

But if he has done it, it would be for the good of everyone, not just you, to see him locked up. Especially the victims.

[ He's been poisoned long before this. The stroke of the pen that turned Hawk's words into the end of Caroline's life as she knew it was his. Everyone who had been ruined by McCarthy's inquisition would be right to blame Tim, in some small part, for keeping that engine running. How many envelopes of faked evidence and blackmail has he delivered? How many hearings has he attended, passing out memos and filling up glasses of water, so that someone's life can be destroyed with perfect clarity? His only good deed in Washington had been a betrayal.

Politics is an ugly game, but he'll play it, for her as he's played it for Hawk, even as it burns at his soul. They're in Hell. It's only going to get hotter. ]

[unapparent]

I know.
Rhaenyra was much loved by me, and Alina, too. I would answer their pain with justice.

Alina says her attacker was a man. Tall, she thinks.

[ it could be daemon. it could be another of the men in this place, who think women their playthings. ]