Lamandu presses his lips together into a deeper frown, "This matter concerning the financial dealings of the Dodo tribe were brought to my attention when she went through the Pearl Street records, and as the case was now pertinent to my office, I have had to join with her to see it through. Antimony's personal life has not had any reason to be my business. An incident involving her and Desfosse was what led to the later's suspension though."Â
Distancing himself from Antimony would be an excellent idea right now, given that the Sultansworn seemed to be ripe to spring some nasty accusations on the woman.
Multiple times throughout D'themia and Learner's combined retort, Antimony attempted to stammer in a word edgewise, or two, or three, but their persistence overrode any sounds of protest she made. When they spoke of D'ahl's death, she paled, green eyes widening and ears pressing back against her skull. When they suggested her own involvement, her tail twisted itself into knots of distress. At mention of Loughree's potential violent actions, she swallowed.
And Lamandu! Even the lalafell joined in, and she turned her head to stare at him worriedly for several seconds. "That--I have played no part in Miss Desfosse's antics aside--aside from offering her shelter from someone who sought to take her life!" Antimony cringed at that, realizing almost immediately she may have said too much. She wondered a bit shrilly how the nunh and this Sultansworn had learned of everything they spoke of, and tightened her grip on her bag.
"None... my relationship to--Aijeen has nothing to do with this investigation!" She finally exclaimed, ears splayed out in anxiety. "It was assigned to me by Miss Illira Carceri, not D'hein Tia as you believe. These accusations of-of--they are improper!"
He turned quickly towards Antimony, "Wait... Illira... Illira Carceri?" the name was more than a little familiar to him, "The Elezen you just brought into this, she's his family?" A laugh finds its way out of his throat. "This is a twisted little puzzle we have now found ourselves in, friends."
"Illira Carceri," said Bayard Learner, still holding the papers of Antimony's investigation in his hand. "She would not happen to be related to Amaury Carceri, whom D'hein Tia freed from prison and instructed to participate in this investigation, would it?"
D'edy spun happily, "Oh no!"
In contrast, D'themia Nunh remained somber. "We are all mourning the death of D'ahl right now. D'aijeen has not been seen since handing over the body. Our attempts to extract information from D'hein Tia have failed. If you know anything of where she has gone, I implore you to tell us. I just want my tribe to be together in the aftermath of this tragedy."
The thin-tailed Nunh vaulted over the dandelion-headed huntress who still lay face-down in humiliation. Bayard Learner watched him with a frown and said to Lamandu, "You mean to imply that you did not continue to stay abreast inappropriate interactions between your subordinate and the woman investigating your records?"
Lamandu eyes narrow at the newest accusation, "Do not tell me how to handle my people. Lou and I have spoken on matters, though she is not the most forthcoming of people, and simply seemed to need some distance from the stress of the Blades to process matters. Hence the leave. At this time, Antimony had completed her investigation of our records. It was only yesterday that she returned to me about further matters and requested my assistance here. There was no cause to assume further interaction between Antimony and Lou."
"Any further interaction had nothing to do with the investigation!" Antimony insisted, her tail writhing. She turned her furrowed brow from Lamandu to the others, pursed lips twitching. "This is--this is an affront. You are attempting to deflect the investigation by bringing up meaningless... inaccurate distractions! I won't stand for it."
There was a soft murmuring from the huntresses around the room, and even dandelion-head began to stir from her humiliated repose on the floor. D'themia Nunh watched Antimony evenly, though his fingers curled somewhat. "Yesterday you intruded upon this Commune and confronted a member of our family, a woman for whom I am responsible. Today, that woman is dead, and another missing. You will stand for that?"
The stirring women in the room went silent and still. D'edy Nunh did not, though he did not choose to speak.
"Nothing will turn aside the truth in this matter." The Sultansworn man said, raising the paperwork in his hand. "One or both of you are trying to deflect, either from economic fraud or from the murders. It will not succeed. All of you are under investigation by the Sultansworn beginning now."
"This is... this..." Antimony sputtered, wrung her hands about her bag, drew her shoulders up in a tense, defensive posture. "This is nonsense!" Then she expelled a long breath. It would do no good to go off the deep end here. She knew D'themia's accusations were ridiculous, and he must know her own were threateningly accurate. She needed to remain cool. Professional. Calm.
Calm.
Antimony was not very good at calm.
"I do not have the authority to pass the burden of the investigation on to you, Sultansworn Learner," she managed after a moment. "This is under the purview of the CRA, with the backing of the Grand Companies. I request you let me complete my duties."
"And I have told you the truth, Learner. I am not your enemy this, not that you care, obviously," responded Lamandu coolly.
"You are correct that I do not care, Commaner." Bayard glared at the Lalafel, and then eyes Antimony. "The Sultansworn do not require the permission of the Flames to conduct a murder investigation that was brought to our very offices, especially when contractors of the Flames are suspects. That is one of the purposes of the manifold leadership of the Syndicate. I'm very close to arresting all four of you."
"Three," D'edy corrected, with uncanny speed, his joyful meandering halted. "Antimony, Lamandu, D'themia. Three."
The Sultansworn frowned at him. "You do not seem to mourn your dead sister."
The thin Nunh flailed his arms and protested, "That's not because I'm guilty! I'm just a harmless psychopath!"
D'themia Nunh stood and said coolly, "My friend, if you arrest myself and D'edy nunh, D'hein Tia will be left in charge of the tribe's resources."
"Do you think that means that I'll leave one of you free?" Learner shook his head. "I'll just arrest all three of you, then."
"Quite annoying!" D'edy observed.
"On what grounds? Anything you are proposing is circumstantial at best, Learner. Certainly questioning seems in order, but... no. You must have more for an arrest." Lamandu would be all to happy to simply leave the Miqo'te to being arrested, but Learner was insisting on bringing him in as well. And for once, he really had nothing to do with it, just his luck.
"This is absurd!" Antimony managed to force out the words she'd struggled with prior. Her nose wrinkled with a narrow frown. "Carry out your own investigation if you want, Sultansworn Learner," she was proud that her voice only squeaked just slightly at that, "but I will not have my own work delayed because of it. D'themia Nunh, I again request access to your tribe's financial records."
The Nunh turned to her, "I will not resist your investigation, Antimony, but I don't think you're going to find that which you seek."
"Spend your time wisely," the Sultansworn said, handing the paperwork back to D'themia. Once the man had taken it in his clawed hands, Bayard Learner turned to walk towards the exit. "For very soon I will be returning with a cohort of Sultansworn to take certain people among you in for questioning, and perhaps to hold you on suspicion." He gave the huntresses a glare, "I trust you will not be foolish enough to resist."
"You will have our cooperation." D'themia turned and pointed at the dandelion-headed huntress on the ground, "You! Accompany the Sultansworn, and take D'edy with you. Make sure he goes."
"Awwww no!" D'edy wailed, raising his hands and backing away.
At the orders from her Nunh, however, the huntress jumped up from the floor and took D'edy by his robes, pulling the tiny man along towards the exit very easily. "C'mon, D'edy! We're going to go to work!"
The thin Nunh continued to resist futilely. "But it's just gonna be paperwooooork!"
"We're all looking forward to your return Learner," Lamandu said before addressing the other matter at hand, "Let us do what we came here to do." He gestures towards Antimony, "Please, ask D'themia what you will."
Antimony watched the Sultansworn exit in tense silence, her hands worrying the leather of her bag until the material was horribly cracked and wrinkled. When he was gone, she rocked on the balls of her feet, feeling as though someone had tossed her out to sea. "This--" she began and then stifled her words, closing her eyes and screwing up her face until she felt calm enough to continue.
Finally looking first to Lamandu and then D'themia, she spoke, "The dates of the suspect transactions are listed in the papers there. I will need your records from those same dates to corroborate the data." A breath. "Should they match, I will report such back to my superiors, at which point the investigation will be placed in the hands of another higher in the Agency."
D'themia looked at the papers in his hand. He didn't read them, he just looked at them as though he wasn't sure what they were. He listened to D'edy's continuing protests as he was lead down the hall outside. D'themia glanced up at Antimony, down at Lamandu, around the room at the huntresses that still stood in silence. "I see." He looked back to Antimony, readjusted his stance, crossed his arms across his belly and said, "Why do you look like D'ahl, and what did you fight about, and why is she dead?"
Sighing, Lamandu interrupted, "Those are all things that Learner will ask her on his return, I am sure. Please do not change the subject, and give her access to the documents that she requires." The lalafel reaches into his coat pocket, unfolding the thick, official looking paper before showing it to D'themia. The paper was a warrant for the requested financial documents. "This isn't an option."
Antimony leaned back slightly, lifting her head and glaring across at D'themia. Something in his words pushed a heavy, red hot button in her thoughts, and suddenly the investigation fell away. Even Lamandu's weilding of the warrant did not return her attention.
"And why have you," she marched forward, dropping her bag and lifting one finger as she stomped towards the nunh, "poisoned my daughter's mind with disturbed and twisted notions of what love is? Why have you not prevented her from continuing her evil magic? I know she is still summoning demons, I know it, and you and this tribe have done nothing to save her. You have only hurt and confused my daughter!"
Utterly unmoved by the warrant, the Nunh kept his gaze on Antimony and frowned a little deeper. "Is that why you killed D'ahl? Because you blame her, blame us, for the woman your daughter grew up to be? We did everything we could for her. She cam here broken. You're the one who raised her to be what she was. We couldn't change that. And because it's easier for you to blame us, you kill a member of my family?"
Heaving a heavy sigh, Lamandu pulled the warrant back into his pocket folded as he took a nearby seat. Apparently, he wasn't going to be allowed to escape this disaster anytime soon, though he did have one last plea, "Can we not go about the actual business that we are here for?"
"I have killed no one!" She vaguely heard Lamandu's begging, but it was all too easy to ignore it, especially when this, right here - this was why she had truly come to the Dodo commune. She stopped close to D'themia, green eyes narrowed, her tail bushed out. "Your D'ahl attacked me in this place, but I have done nothing to her. She, however, has corrupted my daughter!"
"You are the corrupting force here!" D'themia shouted, the muscles in his shoulders and arms moving so that for a moment it looked like he was going to strike her. The huntresses tensed. But the violence expelled itself in a rough growl as D'themia turned his back on Antimony and stomped away. "D'hein and D'ahl were stable enough, even enduring the loss of D'ahl's child, until D'aijeen came along, with her corruptions and perversions. The Nunh that preceded me was merciless to that child of yours! But he is gone now. I tried mercy and understand, and now D'ahl is dead, and D'hein plots against me, and the child is gone!" He turned and pointed an angry finger at Antimony. "This comes from you! She is your daughter, the spawn of the Witch of the Sagolii! The twisted creature you misplaced has cursed my tribe!"
"You have no right to call me such a thing, nor speak of Aijeen in such a way," Antimony hissed and pressed after the nunh, his retreat feeling like a slap in the face, a rejection of her grievances. "She is a child and cannot be blamed for her actions. But you--you and every last one of your... family," she spat the word as though it were a curse, her ears shivering against her skull, "You can be blamed. She left me, but you could not help her! You did worse than help her - you hurt her further, you've driven her to--to do terrible things! What she did with D'ahl, what she's done with me, and everything else you have all turned a blind eye to in your--your quest for understanding...!"
She reached out and grabbed at his arm as she snapped, "You horrible people have willfully broken my baby girl, and I will never forgive it!"
Distancing himself from Antimony would be an excellent idea right now, given that the Sultansworn seemed to be ripe to spring some nasty accusations on the woman.
Multiple times throughout D'themia and Learner's combined retort, Antimony attempted to stammer in a word edgewise, or two, or three, but their persistence overrode any sounds of protest she made. When they spoke of D'ahl's death, she paled, green eyes widening and ears pressing back against her skull. When they suggested her own involvement, her tail twisted itself into knots of distress. At mention of Loughree's potential violent actions, she swallowed.
And Lamandu! Even the lalafell joined in, and she turned her head to stare at him worriedly for several seconds. "That--I have played no part in Miss Desfosse's antics aside--aside from offering her shelter from someone who sought to take her life!" Antimony cringed at that, realizing almost immediately she may have said too much. She wondered a bit shrilly how the nunh and this Sultansworn had learned of everything they spoke of, and tightened her grip on her bag.
"None... my relationship to--Aijeen has nothing to do with this investigation!" She finally exclaimed, ears splayed out in anxiety. "It was assigned to me by Miss Illira Carceri, not D'hein Tia as you believe. These accusations of-of--they are improper!"
He turned quickly towards Antimony, "Wait... Illira... Illira Carceri?" the name was more than a little familiar to him, "The Elezen you just brought into this, she's his family?" A laugh finds its way out of his throat. "This is a twisted little puzzle we have now found ourselves in, friends."
"Illira Carceri," said Bayard Learner, still holding the papers of Antimony's investigation in his hand. "She would not happen to be related to Amaury Carceri, whom D'hein Tia freed from prison and instructed to participate in this investigation, would it?"
D'edy spun happily, "Oh no!"
In contrast, D'themia Nunh remained somber. "We are all mourning the death of D'ahl right now. D'aijeen has not been seen since handing over the body. Our attempts to extract information from D'hein Tia have failed. If you know anything of where she has gone, I implore you to tell us. I just want my tribe to be together in the aftermath of this tragedy."
The thin-tailed Nunh vaulted over the dandelion-headed huntress who still lay face-down in humiliation. Bayard Learner watched him with a frown and said to Lamandu, "You mean to imply that you did not continue to stay abreast inappropriate interactions between your subordinate and the woman investigating your records?"
Lamandu eyes narrow at the newest accusation, "Do not tell me how to handle my people. Lou and I have spoken on matters, though she is not the most forthcoming of people, and simply seemed to need some distance from the stress of the Blades to process matters. Hence the leave. At this time, Antimony had completed her investigation of our records. It was only yesterday that she returned to me about further matters and requested my assistance here. There was no cause to assume further interaction between Antimony and Lou."
"Any further interaction had nothing to do with the investigation!" Antimony insisted, her tail writhing. She turned her furrowed brow from Lamandu to the others, pursed lips twitching. "This is--this is an affront. You are attempting to deflect the investigation by bringing up meaningless... inaccurate distractions! I won't stand for it."
There was a soft murmuring from the huntresses around the room, and even dandelion-head began to stir from her humiliated repose on the floor. D'themia Nunh watched Antimony evenly, though his fingers curled somewhat. "Yesterday you intruded upon this Commune and confronted a member of our family, a woman for whom I am responsible. Today, that woman is dead, and another missing. You will stand for that?"
The stirring women in the room went silent and still. D'edy Nunh did not, though he did not choose to speak.
"Nothing will turn aside the truth in this matter." The Sultansworn man said, raising the paperwork in his hand. "One or both of you are trying to deflect, either from economic fraud or from the murders. It will not succeed. All of you are under investigation by the Sultansworn beginning now."
"This is... this..." Antimony sputtered, wrung her hands about her bag, drew her shoulders up in a tense, defensive posture. "This is nonsense!" Then she expelled a long breath. It would do no good to go off the deep end here. She knew D'themia's accusations were ridiculous, and he must know her own were threateningly accurate. She needed to remain cool. Professional. Calm.
Calm.
Antimony was not very good at calm.
"I do not have the authority to pass the burden of the investigation on to you, Sultansworn Learner," she managed after a moment. "This is under the purview of the CRA, with the backing of the Grand Companies. I request you let me complete my duties."
"And I have told you the truth, Learner. I am not your enemy this, not that you care, obviously," responded Lamandu coolly.
"You are correct that I do not care, Commaner." Bayard glared at the Lalafel, and then eyes Antimony. "The Sultansworn do not require the permission of the Flames to conduct a murder investigation that was brought to our very offices, especially when contractors of the Flames are suspects. That is one of the purposes of the manifold leadership of the Syndicate. I'm very close to arresting all four of you."
"Three," D'edy corrected, with uncanny speed, his joyful meandering halted. "Antimony, Lamandu, D'themia. Three."
The Sultansworn frowned at him. "You do not seem to mourn your dead sister."
The thin Nunh flailed his arms and protested, "That's not because I'm guilty! I'm just a harmless psychopath!"
D'themia Nunh stood and said coolly, "My friend, if you arrest myself and D'edy nunh, D'hein Tia will be left in charge of the tribe's resources."
"Do you think that means that I'll leave one of you free?" Learner shook his head. "I'll just arrest all three of you, then."
"Quite annoying!" D'edy observed.
"On what grounds? Anything you are proposing is circumstantial at best, Learner. Certainly questioning seems in order, but... no. You must have more for an arrest." Lamandu would be all to happy to simply leave the Miqo'te to being arrested, but Learner was insisting on bringing him in as well. And for once, he really had nothing to do with it, just his luck.
"This is absurd!" Antimony managed to force out the words she'd struggled with prior. Her nose wrinkled with a narrow frown. "Carry out your own investigation if you want, Sultansworn Learner," she was proud that her voice only squeaked just slightly at that, "but I will not have my own work delayed because of it. D'themia Nunh, I again request access to your tribe's financial records."
The Nunh turned to her, "I will not resist your investigation, Antimony, but I don't think you're going to find that which you seek."
"Spend your time wisely," the Sultansworn said, handing the paperwork back to D'themia. Once the man had taken it in his clawed hands, Bayard Learner turned to walk towards the exit. "For very soon I will be returning with a cohort of Sultansworn to take certain people among you in for questioning, and perhaps to hold you on suspicion." He gave the huntresses a glare, "I trust you will not be foolish enough to resist."
"You will have our cooperation." D'themia turned and pointed at the dandelion-headed huntress on the ground, "You! Accompany the Sultansworn, and take D'edy with you. Make sure he goes."
"Awwww no!" D'edy wailed, raising his hands and backing away.
At the orders from her Nunh, however, the huntress jumped up from the floor and took D'edy by his robes, pulling the tiny man along towards the exit very easily. "C'mon, D'edy! We're going to go to work!"
The thin Nunh continued to resist futilely. "But it's just gonna be paperwooooork!"
"We're all looking forward to your return Learner," Lamandu said before addressing the other matter at hand, "Let us do what we came here to do." He gestures towards Antimony, "Please, ask D'themia what you will."
Antimony watched the Sultansworn exit in tense silence, her hands worrying the leather of her bag until the material was horribly cracked and wrinkled. When he was gone, she rocked on the balls of her feet, feeling as though someone had tossed her out to sea. "This--" she began and then stifled her words, closing her eyes and screwing up her face until she felt calm enough to continue.
Finally looking first to Lamandu and then D'themia, she spoke, "The dates of the suspect transactions are listed in the papers there. I will need your records from those same dates to corroborate the data." A breath. "Should they match, I will report such back to my superiors, at which point the investigation will be placed in the hands of another higher in the Agency."
D'themia looked at the papers in his hand. He didn't read them, he just looked at them as though he wasn't sure what they were. He listened to D'edy's continuing protests as he was lead down the hall outside. D'themia glanced up at Antimony, down at Lamandu, around the room at the huntresses that still stood in silence. "I see." He looked back to Antimony, readjusted his stance, crossed his arms across his belly and said, "Why do you look like D'ahl, and what did you fight about, and why is she dead?"
Sighing, Lamandu interrupted, "Those are all things that Learner will ask her on his return, I am sure. Please do not change the subject, and give her access to the documents that she requires." The lalafel reaches into his coat pocket, unfolding the thick, official looking paper before showing it to D'themia. The paper was a warrant for the requested financial documents. "This isn't an option."
Antimony leaned back slightly, lifting her head and glaring across at D'themia. Something in his words pushed a heavy, red hot button in her thoughts, and suddenly the investigation fell away. Even Lamandu's weilding of the warrant did not return her attention.
"And why have you," she marched forward, dropping her bag and lifting one finger as she stomped towards the nunh, "poisoned my daughter's mind with disturbed and twisted notions of what love is? Why have you not prevented her from continuing her evil magic? I know she is still summoning demons, I know it, and you and this tribe have done nothing to save her. You have only hurt and confused my daughter!"
Utterly unmoved by the warrant, the Nunh kept his gaze on Antimony and frowned a little deeper. "Is that why you killed D'ahl? Because you blame her, blame us, for the woman your daughter grew up to be? We did everything we could for her. She cam here broken. You're the one who raised her to be what she was. We couldn't change that. And because it's easier for you to blame us, you kill a member of my family?"
Heaving a heavy sigh, Lamandu pulled the warrant back into his pocket folded as he took a nearby seat. Apparently, he wasn't going to be allowed to escape this disaster anytime soon, though he did have one last plea, "Can we not go about the actual business that we are here for?"
"I have killed no one!" She vaguely heard Lamandu's begging, but it was all too easy to ignore it, especially when this, right here - this was why she had truly come to the Dodo commune. She stopped close to D'themia, green eyes narrowed, her tail bushed out. "Your D'ahl attacked me in this place, but I have done nothing to her. She, however, has corrupted my daughter!"
"You are the corrupting force here!" D'themia shouted, the muscles in his shoulders and arms moving so that for a moment it looked like he was going to strike her. The huntresses tensed. But the violence expelled itself in a rough growl as D'themia turned his back on Antimony and stomped away. "D'hein and D'ahl were stable enough, even enduring the loss of D'ahl's child, until D'aijeen came along, with her corruptions and perversions. The Nunh that preceded me was merciless to that child of yours! But he is gone now. I tried mercy and understand, and now D'ahl is dead, and D'hein plots against me, and the child is gone!" He turned and pointed an angry finger at Antimony. "This comes from you! She is your daughter, the spawn of the Witch of the Sagolii! The twisted creature you misplaced has cursed my tribe!"
"You have no right to call me such a thing, nor speak of Aijeen in such a way," Antimony hissed and pressed after the nunh, his retreat feeling like a slap in the face, a rejection of her grievances. "She is a child and cannot be blamed for her actions. But you--you and every last one of your... family," she spat the word as though it were a curse, her ears shivering against her skull, "You can be blamed. She left me, but you could not help her! You did worse than help her - you hurt her further, you've driven her to--to do terrible things! What she did with D'ahl, what she's done with me, and everything else you have all turned a blind eye to in your--your quest for understanding...!"
She reached out and grabbed at his arm as she snapped, "You horrible people have willfully broken my baby girl, and I will never forgive it!"
![[Image: AntiThalSig.png]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/179079766/AntiThalSig.png)
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
Hipparion Tribe (Sagolii)Â - Â Antimony Jhanhi's Wiki
