It takes maybe half an hour before there's a sound of hooves coming up the road from the Springs. Chris has dressed lightly for the ride; unless she's actively expecting combat she wears her armour much less than she did back home.
"Ah, Geddoe. Sorry to keep you waiting." She brings the horse to a stop, then swings off the saddle and onto the ground with the practiced ease of an experienced rider. "Anything to report on your reconnaissance of the outskirts?" She asks, mostly to make conversation while she secures the horse so it doesn't wander off somewhere. The stables could get tetchy about that kind of thing.
Geddoe's eye wanders over the horse and her actions; not that he wants a horse of his own but now he's curious about buying, borrowing, or otherwise. Just in case. "Things are quiet," he says plainly, shrugging slightly. "After the incident earlier this month with the minotaur, it looks like everything has more or less returned to normal."
He tips his chin vaguely toward the road. "Making new habits to make up for the old?"
"So it would seem." Chris agrees, though she's still not entirely sure about the drinking water. "The work crews have been doing an admirable job repairing the damage. I daresay the city will look good as new in another week or two."
For a moment, his question confuses her, but then she looks down. "Oh, you're referring to my outfit?" She asks. "My armour's a bit too impractical for everyday wear here, I've found." She admits, especially since she has to put it all on herself now, a more daunting and time-consuming proposition without Louis to assist.
With the horse secured, Chris approaches. "Well, now that I'm here, we can talk." She folds her arms over her chest. "It's Yuber. I mean to bring him in, and I want your help to do it. Among others." Geddoe is a hell of a fighter, with decades worth of experience. His presence on the team she's looking to build would be a massive boon for the prey she's hoping to catch.
Geddoe manages to keep his face completely without reaction, in spite of the internal twinge of ah shit he feels. He was sort of hoping his complex entanglement with the demon would have taken longer to out. "Bring him in," he says with a touch of doubt. "For what, particularly? Has he done something considered criminal by the locals?"
Like he doesn't know about the broadcast sounds of dubious legality...
Fortunately, Geddoe outwardly taking the news with his apparent usual stoicism is enugh to keep Chris from seeing his inner discomfort. He reacts with the same nonchalance she was expecting, to be honest. Nothing ever seems to phase the mercenary, her possession of the True Fire Rune notwithstanding. Still, she's surprised by his apparent ignorance. "You must have heard." She replies, somewhat confused. "He committed murder on the network and then openly admitted killing a man."
That the man was apparently a criminal (not that she's willing to take Yuber at his word on that) means nothing. Murder was not an acceptable response. "That's just the one he admitted to. Doubtless there have been others. To be frank, I shouldn't have delayed going after him as long as I have, but I'd hoped the gravity of our situation might reign in his impulses." She shakes her head, frustrated at herself. "I was a fool to think that. But he cannot be allowed to continue, and so I believe it falls to us. I'm in the midst of trying to secure an appointment with Arthur to gain his go-ahead, and if I had a team of capable individuals already lined up I could supply him with, I think it would be to our benefit. And we know Yuber best, out of anyone else here, including from our own world." That admittedly doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but it still helps. "Which is why I'm asking for your support."
Generally, Geddoe knows she's right. As people who have literally fought him multiple times before, they have the most reason to corral him and, barring some fancy new magic from other worlds, the most experience. His True Rune, like theirs, is dormant. What keeps him from instantly jumping on board, though, is his own disinterest in getting involved if he doesn't have to. It's technically not their problem. It's on the locals to decide when someone has violated their laws and how to punish that person for it. He sighs softly with an aggrieved undertone; this is why he didn't want to help Yuber, he tells himself. It was going to come to this eventually.
"Yeah, I saw that thing," he admits, "or rather, heard it. But without additional evidence, or a body, who's to say what really happened? I feel like, if you're going to the king with it, you're going to need more than just speculation. A thought that anyone might have committed murders, just because he's done so before, isn't enough." Unless the king is an idiot he frets to himself. "Certainly, I know his fighting style well and without our Runes I feel like you and I would have a decent chance against him, but that's not a bear I want to poke unless I had an ironclad reason."
"What, you believe Yuber would simply have faked killing someone?" Chris asks in disbelief. "That is very much not his style, you know that..." But Geddoe's words do succeed in raising some doubt within her. "...But Arthur wouldn't know that." She finishes, looking thoughtful. A hand goes to her chin.
"...You do have a point." She admits after a moment. "Arthur would have only our word for Yuber's actions and I have to admit, were I in his position I'm not sure I would find that compelling evidence." It's frustrating, but true. "Especially with what I'm proposing." She'd been so set on getting the team together and going after Yuber, with stopping him, that she'd failed to account for Camelot not being the same as Vinay del Zexay; her word carries a great deal less weight here than in the Federation. After a moment however, an idea comes to her.
"But you're right, we do know his fighting style." She says slowly, working her way through the idea carefully. "We need to find a body. Yuber's never been one to bother hiding his kills, and since he's broken no other patterns since arriving I'm willing to be that's the case here. Perhaps if I can gain entry to the charnel houses, or reach out to the local watch...if we can find a body, or bodies that bear the wounds inflicted by his swords, that might be evidence enough to persuade Arthur the case against Yuber has merit. Not just my say-so."
She looks back towards Geddoe; his reticence seems...surprising. Yuber is a formidable opponent, but Geddoe's never shied away from a challenging fight in the time she's known him. Not when it mattered. "If I can find a body, will you examine it?" She asks. Yuber's twin swords are distinctive, as are the ways he likes to prolong agony. "If we both agree it looks like Yuber's handiwork, I can take that to Arthur. And if all goes well, will you join me? You know the bear is already poked, Geddoe." Though, using animal metaphors at all seems like the wrong tack to take here. Yuber is...more than just a simple animal. "We're going to need every advantage we can get, if we get the go ahead to bring him in. Will you at least think on it? There's time yet before a final decision has to be reached."
Fortunately for Geddoe's private entanglements, Chris working through the whole situation out loud, in front of him, both saves him from saying anything dumb and also helps to shed light on the whole situation. Aha, she wants to bring him in for that, and not for anything else. It's valid. No argument here. He nods patiently. "Yeah, you can count on me for investigating. I only know some of his haunts, and have walked them, but haven't turned up anything yet. If you happen to find something I can take a look at, I would be able to verify." Her other leads are...hmm. He wags a gloved finger carefully. "Ttaverns are going to be a better line of questioning. If anyone has seen anything sordid, it'll be talked about over beer. If anyone else is dead, it's someone who can be missed - someone already in the underground, someone trying to stay out of the spotlight. They won't be reported missing or dead, but someone with all the wrong connections will still mention it in the dark corners of a tavern."
As soon as the word is out of his mouth, Geddoe realizes he's just signed himself up for the usual recon work in said taverns. Good job there, man. Way to stay out of it.
Unfortunately for Geddoe, Chris also picks up on that, and she nods briskly. "Good, then I shall depend upon you for that." She replies before he can have a chance to try and back away. It makes sense; Geddoe is better at navigating that world than she is, and even without her armour, Chris tends to stand out in a crowd. He's better at mixing in and just becoming another face in the crowd, and it'll be easier for him to pick up information.
"If you wish that to be the extent of your involvement, then I can accept that." She adds, though she's still perplexed as to why he's so reticent. Is there something she's missing here? "Although I will only say that as a True Rune bearer, it's only a matter of time before Yuber comes after you anyway. You know his hatred for the Twenty-Seven. Dealing with him now will undoubtedly save us both a great deal of trouble later, perhaps when we are not prepared to deal with it."
"I didn't say only." But he leaves it at that, so as not to tip his hand too quickly.
Geddoe can tell she's not going to buy it forever, so he volunteers something valuable, something that doesn't reveal any of his background machinations. "No, I don't think he will. The first time I ran into him, shortly after I arrived, he let something slip. He went on and on about chaos, and how the calamity and the freezing of time threatens chaos. I could be wrong, but I got the impression that he's absolutely willing to ignore our dormant Runes until after the calamity is dealt with." A bemused huff. "I would never have though him to be capable of looking at the bigger picture, but here we are. That's all I know of his motives, though - he was otherwise as cagey as ever."
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All right. I'll slow down and find a conspicuous spot to wait.
switching to action!
"Ah, Geddoe. Sorry to keep you waiting." She brings the horse to a stop, then swings off the saddle and onto the ground with the practiced ease of an experienced rider. "Anything to report on your reconnaissance of the outskirts?" She asks, mostly to make conversation while she secures the horse so it doesn't wander off somewhere. The stables could get tetchy about that kind of thing.
eyyyy
He tips his chin vaguely toward the road. "Making new habits to make up for the old?"
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For a moment, his question confuses her, but then she looks down. "Oh, you're referring to my outfit?" She asks. "My armour's a bit too impractical for everyday wear here, I've found." She admits, especially since she has to put it all on herself now, a more daunting and time-consuming proposition without Louis to assist.
With the horse secured, Chris approaches. "Well, now that I'm here, we can talk." She folds her arms over her chest. "It's Yuber. I mean to bring him in, and I want your help to do it. Among others." Geddoe is a hell of a fighter, with decades worth of experience. His presence on the team she's looking to build would be a massive boon for the prey she's hoping to catch.
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Like he doesn't know about the broadcast sounds of dubious legality...
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That the man was apparently a criminal (not that she's willing to take Yuber at his word on that) means nothing. Murder was not an acceptable response. "That's just the one he admitted to. Doubtless there have been others. To be frank, I shouldn't have delayed going after him as long as I have, but I'd hoped the gravity of our situation might reign in his impulses." She shakes her head, frustrated at herself. "I was a fool to think that. But he cannot be allowed to continue, and so I believe it falls to us. I'm in the midst of trying to secure an appointment with Arthur to gain his go-ahead, and if I had a team of capable individuals already lined up I could supply him with, I think it would be to our benefit. And we know Yuber best, out of anyone else here, including from our own world." That admittedly doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but it still helps. "Which is why I'm asking for your support."
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"Yeah, I saw that thing," he admits, "or rather, heard it. But without additional evidence, or a body, who's to say what really happened? I feel like, if you're going to the king with it, you're going to need more than just speculation. A thought that anyone might have committed murders, just because he's done so before, isn't enough." Unless the king is an idiot he frets to himself. "Certainly, I know his fighting style well and without our Runes I feel like you and I would have a decent chance against him, but that's not a bear I want to poke unless I had an ironclad reason."
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"...You do have a point." She admits after a moment. "Arthur would have only our word for Yuber's actions and I have to admit, were I in his position I'm not sure I would find that compelling evidence." It's frustrating, but true. "Especially with what I'm proposing." She'd been so set on getting the team together and going after Yuber, with stopping him, that she'd failed to account for Camelot not being the same as Vinay del Zexay; her word carries a great deal less weight here than in the Federation. After a moment however, an idea comes to her.
"But you're right, we do know his fighting style." She says slowly, working her way through the idea carefully. "We need to find a body. Yuber's never been one to bother hiding his kills, and since he's broken no other patterns since arriving I'm willing to be that's the case here. Perhaps if I can gain entry to the charnel houses, or reach out to the local watch...if we can find a body, or bodies that bear the wounds inflicted by his swords, that might be evidence enough to persuade Arthur the case against Yuber has merit. Not just my say-so."
She looks back towards Geddoe; his reticence seems...surprising. Yuber is a formidable opponent, but Geddoe's never shied away from a challenging fight in the time she's known him. Not when it mattered. "If I can find a body, will you examine it?" She asks. Yuber's twin swords are distinctive, as are the ways he likes to prolong agony. "If we both agree it looks like Yuber's handiwork, I can take that to Arthur. And if all goes well, will you join me? You know the bear is already poked, Geddoe." Though, using animal metaphors at all seems like the wrong tack to take here. Yuber is...more than just a simple animal. "We're going to need every advantage we can get, if we get the go ahead to bring him in. Will you at least think on it? There's time yet before a final decision has to be reached."
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As soon as the word is out of his mouth, Geddoe realizes he's just signed himself up for the usual recon work in said taverns. Good job there, man. Way to stay out of it.
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"If you wish that to be the extent of your involvement, then I can accept that." She adds, though she's still perplexed as to why he's so reticent. Is there something she's missing here? "Although I will only say that as a True Rune bearer, it's only a matter of time before Yuber comes after you anyway. You know his hatred for the Twenty-Seven. Dealing with him now will undoubtedly save us both a great deal of trouble later, perhaps when we are not prepared to deal with it."
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Geddoe can tell she's not going to buy it forever, so he volunteers something valuable, something that doesn't reveal any of his background machinations. "No, I don't think he will. The first time I ran into him, shortly after I arrived, he let something slip. He went on and on about chaos, and how the calamity and the freezing of time threatens chaos. I could be wrong, but I got the impression that he's absolutely willing to ignore our dormant Runes until after the calamity is dealt with." A bemused huff. "I would never have though him to be capable of looking at the bigger picture, but here we are. That's all I know of his motives, though - he was otherwise as cagey as ever."