[video]

[dreamsallotted]

[Seel did not look amused. His almond eyes were narrowed, and while his androgynous looks might be beautiful, right now he looked positively bitchy. It had taken him a few days to recover himself after his murder and subsequent resurrection. He wasn't all there yet, it would take time. But he was well enough that he could put on a good front. Seel had a lot of practice after all.]

I didn't think I'd ever have to say this. But at least one of you have proven yourself to be so unpredictable and downright moronic that it deserves to be said.

Don't drink my blood. Don't touch my blood. That goes for Calanthe and Pellaz as well. It's a caustic poison and if you ingest it or inject it, you'll either die horribly or transform. We're not human.

Find yourself another snack or another way to satisfy your sick urges.

And I promise, any of you having similar thoughts, it won't be so easy.

[Seel repositions himself, folding his hands together to keep himself from fidgeting. He really wanted a fucking cigarette.]

Now, who around here would be the leading the Guard? As far as I can tell you are incompetent at best and willingly corrupt at worst. It was my understanding that you were supposed to keep law and order and protect the individuals here and those who cannot defend themselves.Clearly, your methods are not working. I suggest you find me before I have to go find you. At least make yourself look willing to change and accept help.

Comments

[audio]

[synthedick]

[Nick sighs before turning on the audio, his voice even despite the unwarranted callout.]

You make it sound as though we aren't always looking for more help. We can't be everywhere at once, and while we try to protect folks, there's no real 'law and order' in a place like this. If you've got a beef with us, you could try talking to us before throwing out accusations.

Re: [audio]

[dreamsallotted]

[While Seel's voice sounds irritated, he's at least likewise even, trying everything he knows to pull off a more diplomatic approach, even if he might be failing.]

Perhaps there should be. I'm not a guard, I'm a politician. But I've lived through a lot of chaos and it never works out. You might not be able to be everywhere. No one is. But when there's a murder I expect that to be on a radar. At the very least you have a dangerous individual loose in the city. From what I've been told he's killed before.

What have you done about it?

[synthedick]

We've had plenty of dangerous individuals around here. We step in, and we get told we're overstepping our bounds, that we don't make the laws here and have no real authority. That's true and that's what we've stood by, even though folks seem to get it in their heads otherwise.

So we do what we can reasonably do, and folks get hurt while some maniac goes without justice. We keep at what we first set out to do -- to protect folks coming in the Door and during events -- and we get called incompetent because we don't draw a lot of attention to the fact we're risking ourselves out there, trying to get people to safety.

The Guard isn't perfect, but it's hard to be in a place like this, where folks think we're the cops when it's convenient for them, and useless when it's not.

[It sounds like Nick has had this on his mind for a while now.]

video

[am_i_a_monster]

[She looks at him with her eyes wide.]

What? Someone tried to drink your blood? People do that here?

Re: video

[dreamsallotted]

Someone slit my throat and then licked the blood. So yes.

[People were morons here. Who ate blood like a vampire? Unless they actually were one, or so far gone they'd do anything to eat.]

video

[am_i_a_monster]

[She reaches up and touches her scarf, making sure it's in place around the scar from having her own throat cut.]

That's really messed up. What happened to the guy? Is he still here?

[voice]

[circumitus]

Have you actually tried asking the Guard for help, or do you just assume that they know everything that goes on in this place?

Re: [voice]

[dreamsallotted]

I'm assuming they're capable enough to have a basic understanding of what goes on in the city they protect. If not, they obviously need more members, or a restructuring and retraining. So which one is it?

Re: [voice]

[circumitus]

Can't tell if you expect them to be psychic or omnicient. Either way, wasn't aware they had psychics on the Guard, but haven't been keeping tabs on who's involved these days.

[Technically, she's not lying. Rey doesn't spend much time at the HQ, and is more of a Guardmen on the down-low.]

If they assume too much power over people, those like you will accuse them of being corrupt, taking the law into their own hands, which isn't what they say they do.

But then you accuse them of not doing enough. So what do you want them to do? Throw people into cells, risk being labeled as oppressors? Be everywhere at once?

[audio]

[muchadoabout]

[Just his voice, since Nothing doesn't want his face connected to this question.]

Who tried to drink your blood?

Re: [audio]

[dreamsallotted]

A soon to be dead person. B. Beyond something. I didn't exactly catch his name as I was dying.

[Video]

[lifetothefullest]

[It's easy enough to tell both through body language and the general subject matter that something must've happened to Seel specifically, and that's... Not good, for Seel or anyone else.]

I'm sorry for whatever happened to you.

[He means that genuinely, but isn't sure of how to offer more help until he has more details. But that's the psychologist--and personal--side of him, and the criminal profiler side does have more to add.]

This may be a strange question, but it does matter; do you know why this person decided to try drinking your blood?

[It drastically changes any sort of profile he might be able to work out; a vampire attacking someone from hunger is much different from a person just deciding they want to drink blood.

Meanwhile, as for the Guard, as much as Lance might enjoy watching Maketh get called out it's not exactly a fair complaint. Sure, he might've still ignored it if it was only at Maketh, but he does feel it's important to say something in this case.]

On the subject of the Guard, I don't believe they're actually law enforcement, which is appropriate considering there are no laws. Even if they were, though, they can't be expected to know any sort of crime has occurred without it being reported.

[So it's not really fair to blame them for that, and he also doesn't think they should really be enforcing laws in the first place anyway.]

Re: [Video]

[dreamsallotted]

[Seel is thankful for his sympathy. He's not completely together yet, it would be a long while before he was, and a friendly or sympathetic face was always welcome. ]

Thank you.

[Seel says the words softly, his eyes looking away like it's still hard to dwell on. He's having trouble processing.]

Honestly, it looked like he was just having fun. A spur of the moment decision. Maybe he'd done it before, maybe not here. This was not his first or second time killing someone. He knew what he was doing.

[Seel sighed. He was really beginning to hate this place. The lack of laws grated on his sense of proprietary. He'd spent over fourty years installing laws in places where chaos reigned. While this was apt if he was submitting a resume, another part of him was tired of starting from the ground up. This was getting ridiculous.]

So you see the problem. There doesn't seem to be any laws.

[Video]

[lifetothefullest]

[He nods a little at the thanks, and he can see from that reaction how difficult it seems to be for Seel, and so decides to risk offering--]

If you ever want to speak to someone, whether professionally or informally, you can message me at any time.

[He knows not everyone is interested in the whole counseling thing, but it's right to extend the reminder.

As for the answer about Beyond, that's not great news. There are several reasons why someone might decide to add blood drinking into their murders, but none of them are good and the implication that this person is not new to killing narrows them down to some of the worst ones. Wonderful. Just what they all need.]

Thank you. That's important to know.

[He really wonders if this might be the same person who attacked Sharon, but there's nothing to connect the events except timing and likelihood that there aren't several people who are bothering with actively murdering people right now.

As for the last subject, he hesitates several seconds as he decides what to say. His thoughts on this subject are complicated, and he doesn't necessarily want all the reasons for that known.]

There aren't, no. But I'm not sure trying to put them in place is the best course of action either, as much as I wish there was a functional law enforcement system set up here.

video;

[braveoff]

[ Drake hesitates, knowing he should wait for Henry or Maketh to respond before he does, but he can't quite help himself. Two of these posts in less than a month is just fucked up. He sends a photo attachment as he replies, Sharon's sketch of Beyond as he appeared during the last event. ]

...was it this guy? Please tell me there aren't two murderers wandering around the city right now.

Re: video;

[dreamsallotted]

[Seel opens the attachment that was sent, seeing Sharon's sketch and wonders if it's the same thing that Pell had been looking for a few days earlier.]

Yeah. That's him. He killed someone else right?

Re: video;

[braveoff]

[ Drake's watching the other threads, rakes a hand through his hair worriedly. ]

He didn't drink her blood, but yeah, he killed someone else. I've been keeping an eye out for him.

video

[sheathes]

[ It's the blood comment, more than anything else, that throws Saber a little. Caustic blood... is he a dragon of some sort? A demon? The transformation aspect makes it sound more like the latter, but the fact he's warning people away from drinking it isn't very demonic.

Still. She matches his video, looking composed — if a little insulted. ]

We cannot preside over that which we are unaware of. Had you asked for our aid, it would have been granted... though, I suppose, you may not have been in a position to do so.

Regardless, I am sorry for what has occurred to you.

Re: video

[dreamsallotted]

[Insulted is the normal response when dealing with Seel it seems. He elicits that response quite a lot.]

Dying doesn't exactly lend one to being able to easily call for help.

[He had called for help. For one of his kind, a quick, easier method of communication. But he knew he'd never get there in time.]

But, thank you.

video

[toiletseat_girl]

--who the fuck would do something like that?

Re: video

[dreamsallotted]

A psychologically unstable crazy person? A moron with limited thinking skills?

[text]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Um. Michael is feeling oddly called out right now, even though he's not the one who did the thing. And will not be doing the thing because it sounds like a massive inconvenience.

But hey, way more pressing issue: There's a murderer in Hadriel. And that immediately takes all priority away from the blood thing. In fact, he kind of can't think about anything else. Hello there.]

There's a serial killer here?
Do we know who it is?

Re: [text]

[dreamsallotted]

[Sorry Michael, Seel might consider your feelings if he knew about you or who you were. Maybe. He was a lot more logical than he was emotional or considerate. Most of the times. There was the stray crazy thought. Okay, more than a stray one.]

I'm not sure his full name. Beyond. Or B maybe. He had dark hair,thin frame, really bad posture?

video;

[hotspurred]

[Henry stands in his armour, his expression serious and faintly frowning. While he thinks the accusations unfair, he manages to keep his temper down and his tone even. Of course a victim would be angry, and the Guard are a convenient, safe target.]

We are not omnipotent. Nor do we proclaim our every action. Yet we keep the door to our headquarters open, should you want to discuss this in person.

[Still, he will say this much on the network, after a pause:]

...Pell has informed me of what happened. While we cannot avert the evil already committed against you, the Guard will do our utmost to prevent any further killings.

Re: video;

[dreamsallotted]

So you would be the individual Pell called then. Henry is it? I wasn't aware he was so friendly with the Guard.

[At least he seemed like he would genuinely take action if necessary. He knew Pell had a soft heart, and in B's case had been completely taken advantage of, but Seel had to hope that in Henry's case the trust was justified. Perhaps he'd have to see about that himself.]

Do you know of anyone else that's been killed?