Dragoknighte

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Carnival Set Up
Skills: N/A

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It was difficult for Gio to connect to the feelings of those who surrounded him. Of course there was the obvious differences in physiology that created the vast differences in worldview, but it was more than simple immortality that created the divide. He was just simply bad at reading people, empathizing with them and so forth. He wasn't some unfeeling machine or psychopath, but he was far from the compassionate, motherly figure those like Evelina or Alicia could be (at times). This facet of his personality only amplified further the alienation a perspective thousands of years old would carry with it.

But right here, right now, he had something of an epiphany. Gio felt like he might know what it was like to be a new Paradox. He might not have died, but perhaps dying would have lessened the shock of this all. It could potentially create some line of demarcation from the time when you believed you knew how the world work and to the uncertain present of being an unknown quantity. Still, it was a lot to take in, and he was certain that most of it wouldn't end up truly sinking in until he'd had some time to stew over it.

What gave him grounding in the conversation now was back to the beginning. The reference to time and its regularity created backing to his thoughts, in the way the instrumentals of a song gave the vocalist a canvas upon which to sing. There was no way that the beginning for anyone of her antiquity would be so recent as a few months ago. She likely saw the threads of fate in action well before any of them would have noticed. Perhaps the beginning of the Emendators teaming up to take down the Destruere.

"Or perhaps if I may hazard a guess," Giosue spoke, continuing his train of thought suddenly into speech. "We need to return to the beginning of the problem. Of when the Destruere first began to appear and wreak havoc." Normally, Gio liked to think through his ideas much further than he had here, but he was off his game as it was, and getting some more ideas out in the works where it could be built upon was more important than attempting to refine out the best possible solution when they weren't entirely certain was the problem actually was.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Chicago
Skills: N/A

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"That so? I moved out to Justice to get closer to various gigs and opportunities. And it also felt like I'd fit in better. Well not fit in, but it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to see a freak like me in southern California. That seems to be one of the country's two nexus points for weirdos. That and Florida." In her head, Mali couldn't help but gripe about how much it sucked that she couldn't spend enough time in the city to even think about utilizing the reasons for moving house before everything went to hell. A broken hand was one of the worst injuries a bodybuilder could get, effectively smashing any hopes she had for any competitions for the rest of the year, and she couldn't even really get a head start for the off-season even factoring out the Juno business.

But then Zoie had to go and bring up a zombie apocalypse, snapping Mali out of her internal frustration. Nah, that ain't her. Go check and see if someone else would be down with that shit, because the validation for that fantasy did not exist in that truck.

"Funny thing about people who always have some post-apocalyptic fantasy." Mali began, going through a train of thought as it occurred to her. "They never think they're going to die. Every single time, you've got like what, 90% of the population dying? In big cities it's probably closer to like 99.99%. Even if your a colossal badass, you could just get hit at a bad time. Like if you're asleep, or holed up on the loo. The chances of you making it out of the initial fuckening are minuscule, let alone surviving any appreciable amount of time after the fact. Worst still, even if you do, that doesn't actually change the fact that you don't know who really has your back. Those other survivors you run into might want to team up and survive, or they might shank you and leave you bleeding as they take what little shit you have." Realizing she'd just been babbling at length, Mali looked away briefly and cleared her throat. A lot of the spiel was genuine critique of the romanticization of the post apocalypse, but really she was distracting herself from thing about zombies with their dead, deflated eyes and decaying flesh. The last time she got dragged to a zombie flick she had nightmares for a week. If possible, she'd prefer to leave them out of her life entirely.

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Carnival Set Up
Skills: N/A

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Gio wasn't entirely sure how to feel about all this. Although he didn't have too many reasons (well he could invent them if he'd set his mind to it, but that would be bad faith) to doubt the veracity of her claims, he didn't believe her either. It wasn't so much the incredulity elicited by wild assertions, they were standing in the middle of a time loop at that very moment; in a scant few decades there would be people on the moon; a lot of things seem crazy until they actually happen. But her slipperiness definitely had her as the type that you can't trust what they say at face value. "Oh, here I am to give you all the answers you seek"? It screamed of hidden agendas to him.

Still, Gilbert seemed to trust her, and that certainly counted for something. A thought passed through his subconscious. Perhaps I should have indulged in some of that whiskey. It certainly would have made this much less of a headache.

"As well, would there happen to be any more of us wandering around that we should know of?" Immediately after asking the question he realized he had yet to introduce himself. "Ah, my apologies. I go by Giosue these days, although I have a feeling you already know me by some other moniker." The answer to his question he had a feeling would be pertinent to the actions they would need to take in the near future. Part of him was betting that the five (six? if Ben counted) of them were the totality of the Emendators, considering she had expected Drem and Evelina to be present, but who knew really? Even the confirmed possibility of there being more of them around would be a great relief, hurting as they were with their numbers nearly halved.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Grimaldi Books
Skills: N/A

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There wasn't much for Mali to do in this situation other than stand back and watch the conversation play out from afar, but it did give her a chance to get a better look at the guy that Adelaide had been talking to. He was kind of grubby. He didn't look like any kind of law enforcement, or high class enough to be some kind of power player. So chances were that he wasn't involved with any of this. Maybe he was just a regular at the bookstore or something. But then again, Caesar didn't exactly fit the bill of CEO. But it wasn't good to have her become paranoid about every person they happened to pass by just because the game was still on, so to speak. In the end Mali figured if the guy was anyone of note Zoie would tell her.

Fortunately, Adelaide didn't want anything else, so they were free to go on their way without delay. It felt weird to just leave without any kind of acknowledgement, so she gave the shopkeep a small, awkward wave before stepping out of the store. If things went her way, the two of them wouldn't be beset by any unwelcome events like traffic jams or the like and be able to make it to Grimm on or ahead of time, but something was telling her that wouldn't be the case.

"You sure you don't want me to take over driving for a bit? You've been at it for awhile, might be good to give that foot a rest." Mali didn't know the way, but the vast majority of the route would consist of traversing the interstate, the occasional lane change wouldn't trip her up the way the labyrinthine sprawl of the cities could. She recalled in her first days in Justice, she swore she had turned right four times and ended up in a different location altogether.

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Carnival Set Up
Skills: N/A

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Gio, unlike Gilbert wasn't on edge during the entire walk there. It never even occurred to him that there was a potential for violence to break out in the near future. If these people meant to do them serious harm, why did they bother to politely ask to set up on the grounds and then share their personal tales? They had already shown themselves to possess supernatural abilities, some significant degree of trust had to go both ways for the arrangement to progress as it had. Whilst he wasn't comfortable in the presence of the rousties, he had something of a relaxed guard.

Another point where he and his fellow Emendator differed was their conception of self in the hierarchy of things. Even in his youngest days as a general, he was not at the top. Those around him never had to treat him as akin to a god or risk punishment. There were always those above him who he had to answer to. Merely to follow another and defer oneself was not a concession he had to make. So here as in the Kitchen House, he was perfectly content to play the part of the number two, stand at The Hat's right hand and remain silent unless called upon to act.

Although he could not understand the words the woman spoke, he recognized them for what they were. From the tone and word choice it was clear to him that the two knew each other from Millennium past, and Gilbert's reply only cemented the notion. That she was older than even Gilbert, her appearance and the likely possibility that it was she who changed day to night to appear presented a curious puzzle for Gio to fuddle with in the back of his head. Just what was this Siduri, exactly? Perhaps some sort of ancient strain predecessor to vampires? One of the first Kindred perhaps.

However, the truth of this particular question didn't grasp Gio's attention beyond the shallow curiosity brought about from the simple ignorance of it all. What the Watch was really curious about, was what exactly she wanted to attain from setting up camp here and making such shows.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Grimaldi Books
Skills: N/A

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"If possible, I'd rather make it to Grimm before stopping at any restaurants. We do have business to attend to. If we're really hungry, we can always go through a McD's drive thru or something." In the past, Mali had done a good bit of traveling, long drives across the country, generally to visit family in far off places, so she maintained the mindset of keeping her eye on the endpoint rather than taking the time to see the sights along the way. Time was precious and instead of wasting it making a bunch of unnecessary stops, they could spend it where it needed to be spent. If there was time later, then they could go hang around Chicago and sightsee. Not to mention the fact that they were there for a pretty serious reason, lesser concerns could be put off.

"So did you want to say more to her, or are we going to leave? Seems she's still busy with that man." Mali asked Zoie in reference to Adelaide and Robert. It'd be rude for them to just show up, let her know that her friend was dead, take a piss and bounce, but it didn't look like they were anywhere near the point of ending their conversation. She didn't want to interrupt, and she certainly didn't want to take part in whatever it was they were discussing. But there was also the danger of having to wait forever to finish talking, and then they'd miss being able to make it to Grimm before late night. However, this was more Zoie's trip than hers, so she left the decision to her, although Mali dropped the implication in her tone that she'd prefer not to stick around longer than necessary.

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Ville au Camp: Kitchen House->Carnival Set Up
Skills: N/A

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"It's quite alright, Mr. Grady. Just please try to avoid making similar mishaps in the future." He knew that James likely would forget to mind the cleanliness of his mannerisms in the very near future, but it was a trait that Gio had learned to tolerate with far less regulated individuals than he. Truth be told, he wouldn't have made a commotion about it had not the fluid in question not been contaminated by bodily liquids. The thought of drinking a man's vitreous made the stomach turn in disgust.

Mundane concerns aside, every new word brought up by the young man sitting across from him pulled along with him new questions. His entire line consisted of Emendator-likes? And he had met other Emendators? It was entirely possible that there were more out there that they hadn't met yet, but the way he spoke made them sound absolutely commonplace. Perhaps by others he had simply intended a past meeting with Evelina, Drem or the others, but such a set of beings being out there was a hell of a fact to conceal from the rest of them.

And then there was the matter of the sudden onset of night well ahead of schedule, which Ben took completely casually. And 'She.' Regardless of however this all turned out, he was going to have to get a detailed debriefing on just what had transpired in his absence. The Camp needed to be a secure space, and this Carnival potentially brought along with it enough variables to destabilize the entire operation. But that wasn't even the worst part.

"My apologies, Ms. Andromeda, it appears as though the coffee isn't meant to be." As much as he'd like to migrate the coffee grounds to some sort of stable container for safe keeping, people were moving and he couldn't afford to be left behind. Regrettably leaving the tea behind, Gio quickly made his way behind Ben towards whomever this mysterious She was,

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Grimaldi Books
Skills: N/A

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Zoie seemed pretty comfortable, so she wasn't going to try concealing things too much. This was a safe spot. Probably.

"We actually used to live in the same building," Mali explained as she toweled off her hands. (It was actually a small relief to see actual paper towels here. With a restroom as fancy as this, in this day and age, she wouldn't have been the least bit surprised to see one of those air dryers that didn't actually dry the hands in the slightest) "Well I guess we still do, technically. Don't know if he moved out since. But we hadn't formally met until just now. He offered to buy lunch, but time didn't allow for much more than that. I gave him my number, so he'll probably call within the next day or two if he remembers."

"If I had to guess what he was doing here, he's probably following some lead regarding Alicia's death. They were real close, and that man takes family seriously." With that, Mali opened the door and held it open for Zoie, thereby ending her two cents on that particular part of the topic until they were back in the relative security of the truck, although there was a tangent she did transition into for less secure, more casual spaces.

"He did ask if we knew of any good places to eat in the area. I didn't, and wasn't sure if you did either. Where is a good place around here to grab a bite? I could use some actual food." The airplane food was higher quality than expected, but it just wasn't enough, especially with how little she'd had the day before.

🦄 The Paradoxical Emendation - Merged With T.S.

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Giosue Zino

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Location: Ville au Camp: Kitchen House
Skills: N/A

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Gio finished setting up the coffee maker and stared at it for a few seconds, more to have a single stable fixture while his mind was free to wander. It would need some time before he could actually make Andromeda's coffee (the water still had yet to boil after all), so there was no rush on his end. Not that he ever rushed anything that didn't need to be rushed.

But he was thinking about the nature of Ruthie and those that Ben had revived in times past. They had acquired properties of Paradoxes, but were they truly Paradoxes? If they were, then it seemed that it was tied to the returning to life aspect rather than something intrinsic to The Dice's abilities herself. But if not, these human-paradox anomalies were perhaps even more valuable than he'd thought. And the boy. He wasn't getting the sense that Ben was another. Perhaps he was a Paradox but never even knew it. Maybe he was a one in a trillion human who was born with powers and they'd never run into one before. It was certainly possible, they didn't know everything. Absolutely fascinating.

Unlike James. He was conducting himself in a disgusting manner. Reactively, he moved to shield the coffee from any stray water droplets the Georgian and flung about haphazardly.

"At least wipe your face dry first, Mr. Grady. The las thing we need is your eye fluids ending up in the beverages." It seemed that the younger members of the room had decided to take the reins with questions this round, so he abstained once again. And he had learned quite so much with the last batch of answers, he was happy enough with his rate of learning as it was. He had time. He could wait.

🦄 Darker Than Black - Merged With T.S.

Mali Anson

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Location: Grimaldi Books
Skills: N/A

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"You're tellin' me. If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn we were back in the Diamond District." Hell, if Mali's senses hadn't been reawakened back in the parking lot, such an extravagant restroom almost certainly would have tipped her off that something wasn't quite right even here in Chicago. But she didn't really have the privilege of thoroughly investigating the place when she just needed to relieve herself. If there was serious reason to double check the place later, she would, but for now she'd just accept it as a weird fact of life and appreciate the level of luxury present.

Mali picked a stall and went about her business. When she was done and washing her hands, she first gave herself a look in the mirror. With all the fancy make up of the shopping trip gone and the frazzle of travel added, she thought she looked pretty horrible. Her eyes had been eclipsed with dark circles creased with stress, her skin had developed a bit of an oily sheen and she was fairly certain that she saw the beginnings on a zit just below her right cheekbone. At least her hair was still pretty. Mostly. But all that was merely a self distraction from the other matters at hand, and whether she could broach them in a suspicious, semi-private location like this bathroom. So she'd play it by ear.

"Hey Zoie. Did you recognize those guys in the parking lot that you passed by on the way in?" Depending on how Zoie answered would dictate Mali's own response. At worst, she could just fill her in on all the details in the truck.