open | The Commander's Audience at the Palace of Landed Sky

[alderwood]

Characters: The Ironwood Emperor Alderwood Commander and anyone who came to speak with the Ironwood Emperor.
Date: June 15th
Location: The Palace of Landed Sky
Situation: The expected holding of an audience for any that care to speak with the Ironwood Emperor, though they will be met instead by the Alderwood Commander.
Warnings/Rating: N/A; to be updated if necessary

The hall is still and white, strung with softly glowing lanterns that are strung up high beyond reach. Outside, the sun is at its zenith, and it filters down through the cloudy glass roof to create a brilliant, nearly blinding ambiance.

The floor is marble, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ruby quartz. It catches the light, and casts strange patterns on the walls.

The room itself is almost eerily silent. No noise, no echoes. No one and nothing vaguely human, excepting the presence of Evandau. The Alderwood Commander stands before the Emperor's empty throne with patient expression and posture reminiscent to the at-ease bearing of a soldier. He waits to receive the petitioners, kedan and Foreigner alike, in Eshai's place this day. As with her audiences, those wishing to make their case must approach him and he will make not move to shorten the distance between the grand entryway and the throne that he defends.

The 'audience' is an open one, and no one will be turned away. So come one, come all, to the Palace of Landed Sky.

[Actionspam or prose are both acceptable! The Emperor has delegated the audience to Evandau this month and he has been temporarily granted many of the authorities that she naturally holds. Why is that? Well, telling y'all would be too easy, wouldn't it?

Characters will only be admitted into the hall one by one, so there won't be anyone present for anyone else's conversations, and there won't be any 'mingling' in the chamber itself.

By popular demand, we continue to allow mingling for those waiting for an audience in an antechamber. There is a thread header below to allow for that!]

Comments

[alderwood]

"Eshai is busy," he replies, simple and clear. There is no concern in his voice nor in his posture. "We have an arrangement that I stand as proxy in such events."

[lostundercover]

Costigan thinks on it for a second, then gives a nod of concession or acceptance. It's all about the same to him. The undercover thinks, then, about how to change the wording of his questions and what's more important. "You know things are getting worse, but you're not worried about riots. That means you're expecting something. What is it?"

[alderwood]

"Something worse than riots." Evandau does not much mean to toy with him, but the opening demanded such a dry comment that even he could not resist. It is a sign of the agreement and understanding fostered between them, that he would speak to vague amusement. "What I expect is what we see around us: Tu Vishan suffers and without him, we do not survive. Riots cannot be held by the dead, and so I let them play criminal for the moment because I am too busy seeking the party that has caused this decay."

[lostundercover]

The undercover gives an exaggerated and sarcastic smile, just for a second, in response to his remark. It's not disrespectful, but just enough to acknowledge that deeper trust and understanding between them with his own dry sensibilities. He drops his gaze a moment after Evandau's reply as he thinks, then looks up again before speaking.

"How can I help?" Though Costigan is a friendly guy and his concern about the situation is genuine, it's fairly clear that he would not be offering his services if not for their established relationship.

[alderwood]

The gravity of the situation has set, it appears, and that gives him some space to breathe here, at least. Too many shrug it off and refuse to understand the root issue when they come to complain of their petulant desires. "Be ready to act," is his advice. "Report to me anything strange you see in kedan or Foreigner behaviour. What seeks to end us extends many tendrils when it acts, and so we must be alert."

[lostundercover]

Costigan listens silently and intently. The advice that he be ready to act and 'what seeks to end us' makes him more anxious than before, something he didn't realize was possible. He nods about reporting strange things, wondering how much he should mention. Because he doesn't know, he shifts his weight and begins.

"There's a black market developing with the rations, if you didn't know. Pretty small, mostly foreigners." He shrugs a little. "I'm inside, but a low level. I'm trying to keep eyes on it. It's not damaging yet, not with bigger things going on."

A pause. "There was something else I wanted to ask you."

[alderwood]

"What kind of goods?" His brow arches at that, a note made; Evandau is particular about the rationing, determined to see it administered correctly. Subterfuge by the Foreigners is... expected, and unwelcome. "Name that, then your other question."

[lostundercover]

"Cigarettes, alcohol. I think somebody asked for chocolate or something." He has no qualms with passing on that information. It's a statement on the foreigners, to what a greedy people they are, but he won't lie that he's taken advantage of that access to tobacco as much as the next guy. "I don't know of anything worse than that. The foreigners share food pretty freely already."

Costigan allows a pause to subtly indicate the change in topics. "How do you make the clones of us?"

[alderwood]

"Petty things," he says, unsurprised by the shallowness of the enterprise. Foreigners were soft and demanding to his eyes, wont to seek pleasures over helping the whole when things became scarce.

Evandau's eyebrows raise at the question and an old humour occurs to him. "I'd say magic, but we both know that's not how it works. Be satisfied knowing that things here aren't as archaic as the society says." And that is more clarification than he would give most. It's not that he seeks to hide such information, simply does not see the relevance to the Foreigners. They get bodies and can play dodgeball with death, they should be happy. That's how things are meant to run in his books.

[lostundercover]

Costigan says nothing and makes no other movements in response to Evandau's assessment of the black market. He can't help but agree, really, but he's not about to admit to that. Besides, the other man already knows him well enough to guess at his response and that's more than enough. The undercover sees no need to spell it out.

To the latter, his expression tightens and his brow furrows. He appreciates the dismissal of the idea of magic, because he hates the stuff, but the mention of advanced technologies makes him a little nervous. All Tu Vishan needs is their own Patriot Act to make things very uncomfortable for the foreigners. Assuming they don't already have one.

The furrow in his brow deepens.

"Do we still exist back home? Are we just- just copies here? All the same memories and genes, completely unaware that we're not the original? Or did you take our souls and trap them here, to help you?" For as heavy of questions as he's asking, Costigan manages a fairly even tone. It's clear that he's concerned, but he keeps the accusation from his voice and does his best not to sound judgmental. He just wants to know more, not to argue with Evandau about it.

[alderwood]

The room grows still and Evandau evaluates the worth of all that Costigan has done against all that he has demanded. This information he seeks is delicate and could, in the wrong hands, upset the very system that Eshai build to save them. To toss it out there carelessly would be to doom them to extinction, for if Malicant heard it... No.

"You need bodies here," is what he chooses to offer. It clarifies what he has said before and to others, but does not risk much. "Our technology provides for that. We are not so advanced as to bring the whole of you, so we bring what we can. Rest assured that it is you that is brought. Trying to do less than that would have pitiful results."

[lostundercover]

Costigan knows that he hasn't really given as much as he asks for at times and he understands the significance of his question now. There are a lot of people that wouldn't handle the information well, himself included. Unfortunately, while he was take it poorly in stoic silence, others might use it to try to cause revolts or breed animosity, as that Percy kid had seemingly unintentionally done. But, the undercover needed that answer. He needed to know.

"That's not what I asked," he replies evenly, though there's just a hint of hesitation there. It's a subtle sign of respect, that he knows he shouldn't be pushing the subject. "I'll keep it to myself. You can arrest me if I tell anyone and make sure I never see the light of day again, but I want to know."

It's a risk and he knows it, but one that's definitely worth it. The Bostonian knows it will put him in debt to Evandau and might cause him more stress than he can really manage well right now, but some part of him needs some answers.

[alderwood]

"Yet, it is the answer." A clipped reply. "You asked it in many forms, but think of what I said. Souls, Costigan. Clones are empty bodies without them, but a soul cannot be copied. Make the connection, don't waste my time pretending I have withheld some deep detail."

[lostundercover]

Costigan listens. He understands Evandau's frustration with having to spell things out, but some things need to be explicitly stated. The worst thing in the world might be reading between the lines only to find out later that you're wrong. He'll keep to his word about not telling anyone the nuances, about their souls being taken, but he knows that he'll probably end up hinting to Bruce about the advanced technology, if the appropriate situation should arise.

It raises a dozen more questions in the back of his mind, of religious undertones and genetics and more, but he keeps silent on those. He knows that he has already pushed today and the truth Evandau has given him is enough, for now.

"Thank you."

[alderwood]

Evandau nods and raises his hand in the half salute given to the soldiers under his command. "You know how to reach me when next you have some strange, Foreigner question."

[lostundercover]

Costigan gives the man an official, American military salute in response, not knowing how to do the other and not wanting to butcher it and unintentionally cause some disrespect. Then he turns without further comment to make his way down the hall to the outside. This audience with the 'Emperor' definitely went much better than he had intended and for that, and for Evandau, he is extremely grateful.