[ they leave the corpses in the street in her home, too. she folds her arms. ]
Freak accidents happen, but you're right, what a start. It's been two days and we're already dodging accidents left and right. [ she didn't know either of them very well at all obviously, so she's not terribly sad. people die all the time. just.
a pause. ]
There's - reason, someone would want me dead, you know? Or out of the way.
[ and. lmao. yeah. she's not the only one thinking that way - for the first time, strohl's finding himself relieved that will's not here, if that's the case. no king's magic to protect anyone. better him than will.
strohl's expression goes grim and he exhales, looking up as he thinks it over, then, on the exhales, slowly looking back over at vi. ]
...I'm not going to let that happen. [ going to let her die. or him, probably, but definitely not her. big hero talk from strohl, but that's the kind of person he is. you find good people, you hold onto them, you're loyal for them. it's not steered him wrong, yet. ] A promise's a promise, no matter how prescient it ended up being.
Not like I’m totally defenseless. Don’t go jumping in front of any blows for me.
[ she appreciates it, and it is kind of… well, surprising? it’s a little surprising that he is still holding his end of their little halfassed promise. she expected the second any actual danger happened that he would just be protecting his own. that’s how it goes in the undercity.
but he says he won’t let her get got, and that… is loyalty, in a way she isn’t used to and isn’t entirely trusting of. she takes it, with a bit of unease that she doesn’t show. ]
Thanks, though. I’m not going back on my promise either.
No kidding. I think you'd be the one taking me out if I did.
[ punchy mc punchface over here - there's a little lightness to the way he says that, after a heavy moment. though will that stop him? probably not! watch how fast i can die for you!!
anyway. he tilts his head a little - mouth twisting into a very brief, lopsided smile before it falls back to more contemplative, foot tap tapping away. ]
There has to be someone or something behind this, somehow - you're right, I think. If someone wanted us gone, then who, and why? We're not even from the same place.
[ do not!! die for her!! she has a complex about these things… but she takes the lighter tone easily, and elbows him. she tilts her head back, thinking. she doesn’t tap her foot but she is similarly restless, rocking back and forth, shifting her weight. ]
Think it doesn’t matter that we aren’t, right? The easiest way to make someone go missing without raising the alarm is to make it look like they meant to leave. We went on vacation - we aren’t gonna be looked for.
Right. And if you die in an accident on vacation, then that's just a stroke of bad luck.
[ the scowl deepens a little further, briefly, and he shakes his head. ] But who arranges that? Get rid of your enemies by sending them off on a 'vacation' - that kind of service can't come cheaply, can it?
[ paranoid mind palacing about louis paying off some multiverse camp to separate them all off with... glodell. but that theory doesn't work - it's not like louis knows that they're bullshitting. probably. who else has that kind of power in euchronia?
his foot taps again, frowning even deeper. will's not here, but that also means he's nearly alone, and that's scary. at least they have heismay. ]
Something way more organized than just some guy on the street. It's probably a gang getting paid the good stuff. Maybe drugs trade, maybe smuggling - people who've got the know-how and the experience in making people vanish.
[ she's running through the options she knows of, the gangs she's heard from inside stillwater... the people from before all that, even. thing is, she doesn't know a whole lot about the current state of the undercity. nothing but silco's bullshit, and that doesn't help here.
[ strohl's looking more and more annoyed - his chronic do-gooder senses are well and properly rankled the more that she talks. ]
We've not much in the way of a drug trade, at least as far as I've seen. Other problems. [ much bigger problems. smuggling, though...
ughghg. he considers the question for a longer moment - what's next - from the perspective of a strategist. ]
... I think we need to figure out how binding this two weeks of time is, and form an exit strategy. Investigate the transport, find out how we got here in the first place, then hijack it and get gone. There has to be someone running this damn place. We can try to find out what makes those little mechanical things tick, too. Maybe break a couple of them. See what happens.
[ she says, with a hint of smugness to it. a beat, and then she nudges his shoulder with her own, gently. bracing. ]
... Look. We'll figure it out. Don't stress too bad about it. You've got brains rattling around up there, and I've got the fists to back it up. Plus, your girl's got battle sense, I can tell. If we are actually in trouble, we've got it covered from a bunch of different angles.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ they leave the corpses in the street in her home, too. she folds her arms. ]
Freak accidents happen, but you're right, what a start. It's been two days and we're already dodging accidents left and right. [ she didn't know either of them very well at all obviously, so she's not terribly sad. people die all the time. just.
a pause. ]
There's - reason, someone would want me dead, you know? Or out of the way.
no subject
[ and. lmao. yeah. she's not the only one thinking that way - for the first time, strohl's finding himself relieved that will's not here, if that's the case. no king's magic to protect anyone. better him than will.
strohl's expression goes grim and he exhales, looking up as he thinks it over, then, on the exhales, slowly looking back over at vi. ]
...I'm not going to let that happen. [ going to let her die. or him, probably, but definitely not her. big hero talk from strohl, but that's the kind of person he is. you find good people, you hold onto them, you're loyal for them. it's not steered him wrong, yet. ] A promise's a promise, no matter how prescient it ended up being.
no subject
[ she appreciates it, and it is kind of… well, surprising? it’s a little surprising that he is still holding his end of their little halfassed promise. she expected the second any actual danger happened that he would just be protecting his own. that’s how it goes in the undercity.
but he says he won’t let her get got, and that… is loyalty, in a way she isn’t used to and isn’t entirely trusting of. she takes it, with a bit of unease that she doesn’t show. ]
Thanks, though. I’m not going back on my promise either.
no subject
[ punchy mc punchface over here - there's a little lightness to the way he says that, after a heavy moment. though will that stop him? probably not! watch how fast i can die for you!!
anyway. he tilts his head a little - mouth twisting into a very brief, lopsided smile before it falls back to more contemplative, foot tap tapping away. ]
There has to be someone or something behind this, somehow - you're right, I think. If someone wanted us gone, then who, and why? We're not even from the same place.
no subject
[ do not!! die for her!! she has a complex about these things… but she takes the lighter tone easily, and elbows him. she tilts her head back, thinking. she doesn’t tap her foot but she is similarly restless, rocking back and forth, shifting her weight. ]
Think it doesn’t matter that we aren’t, right? The easiest way to make someone go missing without raising the alarm is to make it look like they meant to leave. We went on vacation - we aren’t gonna be looked for.
no subject
[ the scowl deepens a little further, briefly, and he shakes his head. ] But who arranges that? Get rid of your enemies by sending them off on a 'vacation' - that kind of service can't come cheaply, can it?
[ paranoid mind palacing about louis paying off some multiverse camp to separate them all off with... glodell. but that theory doesn't work - it's not like louis knows that they're bullshitting. probably. who else has that kind of power in euchronia?
his foot taps again, frowning even deeper. will's not here, but that also means he's nearly alone, and that's scary. at least they have heismay. ]
no subject
[ she's running through the options she knows of, the gangs she's heard from inside stillwater... the people from before all that, even. thing is, she doesn't know a whole lot about the current state of the undercity. nothing but silco's bullshit, and that doesn't help here.
she sighs short out of her nose. ]
So - what next, then?
no subject
[ strohl's looking more and more annoyed - his chronic do-gooder senses are well and properly rankled the more that she talks. ]
We've not much in the way of a drug trade, at least as far as I've seen. Other problems. [ much bigger problems. smuggling, though...
ughghg. he considers the question for a longer moment - what's next - from the perspective of a strategist. ]
... I think we need to figure out how binding this two weeks of time is, and form an exit strategy. Investigate the transport, find out how we got here in the first place, then hijack it and get gone. There has to be someone running this damn place. We can try to find out what makes those little mechanical things tick, too. Maybe break a couple of them. See what happens.
no subject
[ she says, with a hint of smugness to it. a beat, and then she nudges his shoulder with her own, gently. bracing. ]
... Look. We'll figure it out. Don't stress too bad about it. You've got brains rattling around up there, and I've got the fists to back it up. Plus, your girl's got battle sense, I can tell. If we are actually in trouble, we've got it covered from a bunch of different angles.
no subject
Different angles. Right. [ ...
but with that, he returns the nudge, lopsided smile slight, but returned. ] Company could be worse.
no subject
Aw, that's the nicest thing anybody has ever said about me. [ she drawls, grinning. ] At least someone around here has some common sense.
no subject
[ strohl says as if he is not also getting involved in every stupid fucking shenanigan there ever was
its fine. he repeats: ] We'll figure it out.