Collab GM Post with Camleen
So it at least didn't end with calls for executions. Anne thinks after getting a brief report of the meeting and hoped to get more later one. Then Anne snaps her head to that sudden voice that could only be in response to her statement towards Chize. She looks around Niji first while the unicorn has a bite of the fruit Burton had given her. "Who said that?" She asks, the fruit being clenched in her hand as she didn't like being called a liar, not in a state of mind to think it could have been Niji.
Leonidas stops chewing his fruit hearing that as well and also looks around in that direction. If the guards are surprised by the voice, they give no indication. Neither do Odalwa, Genessa or Fahlstaff as they form up beside Chize.
Anne turns back to Chize as the Barbin talks at Niji, skeptical if Niji understood whatever that was until she sees the young animal nod. Anne relaxes her hold on the fruit. "Huh. So you called me a liar?" She says to Yuzuki. "You best teach her manners Zuki. I don't take kindly to being called a liar." While looking at Yuzuki, she catches Grimm and Benji eating the boozefruit like one would any normal fruit. The pirate grimaces, firstly because she is not a fan of the whole fruit itself as it had the squishy texture of a peach, and secondly because while she loved being drunk, the effect of eating a mouthful was akin to downing a large mug of rum in one draft. Well, it's their hangover to deal with in the morning.
Leonidas shakes his head and thinks silently how this world has a surprise around every corner.
Dean finishes the last of his cheese and raises a brow back at Anne, then at the improvised inquisition before him. He rattles the chains as he dusts off his hands and listens to Chize's question.
"I serve nobody in particular. I consider myself a man of the people." He looks her and the Red Shield in the eye in turn while answering.
Anne looks at Dean, then Niji to see if she spoke again, holding the fruit aloft in front of her.
Yuzuki is quick to shake her head with Anne's request "I didn't… know she actual talks… all this time and she hasn't said a word…" Of course Yuzuki doesn't know exactly what kind of vocabulary her mount has. But… she has seen talking cat people that seemed more intelligent than some men she's encountered. So why not the unicorn? Yuzuki moves closer to Niji, patting her on the side "Why haven't you spoken? Were you scared, my friend?" Yuzuki says softly. Niji glances towards her, and then back towards Anne and the fruit she holds.
Dean answers the query put before him by the cat like Chize, the woman listening to him as she observes the unicorn. Chize knows that some of the unicorn species do talk, but rarely more than a word or two. And usually a word close to them, to their heart. Like seeing the truth of things. Niji, while young, sees the world through a vastly different spectrum than most others see it. She sees what is the truth, not what is perceived. She saw a truth in Yuzuki when they were first brought together, and perhaps that is part of the reason why she travels with her.
But when Dean does answer, there is no response from the unicorn. Chize waits another few seconds, and then looks towards the Red Shield around her. "There is no greater truth than by one spoken from the race of unicorns. If Dean were lying, she would tell us so."
Niji doesn't seem to be paying attention, and some of the Red Shield wonder if all of this is true. Or if it's just some ruse to make them trust Dean, the one that just tried to send their kingdom into chaos with just a few seconds of work. There had been...rumors… about Chize and the heroic James Dean a dozen years before. Is Chize somehow manipulating the situation to make it seem as if Dean should be freed? Some of the Red Shield glance towards one another, as if trying to decide amongst themselves what this situation really is. They have no idea that the unicorn is capable of what Chize says…
"This rude pony can tell….if yer lyin'?" Anne looks at Niji.
Leonidas finishes his fruit and, not seeing what else to do with it, holds it while looking at the inquisition before Dean. He is less skeptical than Anne but not open to the concept either. Even considering he had killed and ridden creatures of legend in no less than two days.
"Looks like nobody is buying what you're selling Chize." Dean says to the Barbin woman. "You're not asking the right questions. Here let me help." Dean clears his throat, moves his mouth around to loosen it up. He looks Odalwa square in the eyes.
"I enjoyed killing your comrades today, and I would kill everyone here with your sun sword right now if I could." He looks at Genessa "And you, Little Miss Genny, I look at you and see only that child playing pretend in your father's fields who still needs her medicine to even stand. I want to kill you and kill the whole Orlock family tree with you." He says, every word coming with the conviction of a hardened, soulless killer. It has the desired effect on their targets. Odalwa scowls and Genessa reaches for her sun sword at her belt. Fahlstaff does the same. Anne whips her flintlocks from their holsters with surprising swiftness and drops the fruit in the process, levels both at Dean. The Guards raise their pikes.
Yet Leonidas and Yuzuki, the two Strangers with the ability to know danger before anyone, feel none from Dean himself. Only from all those about to end their prisoner. Leonidas chucks the core over his shoulder, sighs.
For a moment, it almost seems as if Niji understands Anne's words. Rather, her insult. The unicorn looks towards Anne's face for a moment, but then back towards the fruit she is holding. But Yuzuki notices. Her brows furrow a little as she pats Niji's side now, speaking to Anne. "Ey ey… she isn't rude… she has her own ways…" She looks back towards Niji, who moves her head to rub her muzzle against Yuzuki's shoulder, almost pushing the small woman off her feet with a soft chuckle.
Chize finds herself scowling a little with Dean's words, and now she looks around herself towards the guardsmen and women around her, her cat ears perked up as her tail twitches left to right anxiously. But she looks back towards Dean as he offers his services to clear things up… and then he starts down what Chize thinks is a very unwise course.
But with each sentence… a soft word comes from Niji's direction. Those not right next to her might not hear it over the seeming chaos that ensues from Dean's words, the collected Guard suddenly going into a defense/assault mode.
"I enjoyed killing your comrades today, and I would kill everyone here with your sun sword right now if I could."
~Lying~
"And you, Little Miss Genny, I look at you and see only that child playing pretend in your father's fields who still needs her medicine to even stand. I want to kill you and kill the whole Orlock family tree with you."
~Lying~
But otherwise, there is nothing else to make it seem as if Niji were paying attention. Even the sudden rise in tensions seems to leave her unphased. Perhaps because Yuzuki is still calmed, her instincts telling her that nothing will happen at this moment. Or so she hopes. But… when Anne aims her flintlocks… she drops the fruit. Niji suddenly trots closer to Anne and leans down, chomping hungrily on the fruit at her feet, not seeming to care her side is almost pushing Anne to one side. She needs to get the fruit, after all!
Chize turns abruptly and stands in front of Dean, putting herself between the commanding officers of the Red Guard and Anne. Putting herself in harm's way. With wide eyes she speaks in a rushed tone. "Wait stop! The unicorn vouches! Lower your weapons!" Towards the end of that sentence, it turns more into an angry order. And without even realizing it, her claws have extended from her fingertips, her tail flicking side to side, some of the fur along it raised.
Anne looks aside at Niji and Yuzuki. Both calm as before. Niji more so with that fruit she had been coveting. She had heard the unicorn say Dean was lying, and if Yuzuki was so relaxed then it must be true. Dean wasn't even looking at her, or anyone but Chize.
So all that had been lies.
"Alright." Anne holsters her pistols and pets Niji along the neck. "Weapons down everyone. This one's got no fight in him." And to look at Dean one could see that the malice in his face was gone. Now his eyes were down and shoulders slumped.
"He was an accomplished actor before." Odalwa says. "if it were not for the unicorn, I may have believed that performance." He looked aside at Genessa "Fooled you, Senior Orlock."
"I heard." Genessa takes her hand away from the sun sword and scoffs. Lie or not, those words had touched a nerve with the young woman. The guards resume their defensive stance.
"You can step away, Chize." Dean tells her. "May have gone overboard, but it proved what we needed to prove." He looks down at the back of his hands, the swastikas covered by Houdini's symbols. "I don't serve Hitler. I want to help end him any way I am allowed."
Chize almost looks like she is about to defend herself, though she hasn't really had to in a very long time. She thinks she could handle herself… but who knows. Hopefully she won't have to be tested in that regard.
Anne calls for weapons to be disengaged, and Yuzuki looks to Niji with a soft smile, patting her side. Yuzuki glances towards Anne, and then Niji and says softly. "My name is Anne." Almost immediately as she eats the rest of the fruit, that soft voice is heard again.
~Lying~
Yuzuki laughs softly, and Niji flicks her tail as she abruptly trots away from Anne and Yuzuki, moving in Leonidas' general direction. Well.. the direction his discarded fruit went. One never knows, could be something to salvage there.
"I'm sorry if his words struck you deeper than intended." Chize says, looking towards Genessa and Odalwa. She motions to Dean as she continues. "But it was necessary. He has proven his loyalties no longer lie with the terrorist. He wishes to help us. For now…." she looks right at Genessa "With your permission… he shall be retained in the castle." She glances to Dean as she continues. "He no longer is a servant of the evil, but he still has crimes to answer for…"
"I might give my permission." Genessa shakes her head slowly "But you forget, it is not mine to give. Or Odalwa's, or even Overseer Germaine's."
"By attempting to take his life, this man's life is now in the hands of King Richard." Odalwa says to Chize. "We are but a party who seeks some justice for our fallen." He looks at Dean. "And for that, we need answers as to where we can find Hitler."
"That, is going to be a problem." Dean says raising his head looking around "See from what I understand, I've been someone else for a decade and two years. And that makes for a lot of memories I'm trying to sort out." He winces and pats his leg, the one still injured. "Case in point, I have no idea what happened to my leg, or who any of you Strangers are besides the redhead."
Niji, whose journey to retrieve and consume the discarded fruit core has taken her to be near Grimm, makes no other noise besides chomping down on said core.
"Yuzuki stabbed ya." Anne answers pointing at Yuzuki while walking away from Dean towards Harry, who looks to be trying to isolate himself from the group. And that just won't do. Anne stands over Harry with hands on her hips. "Harry my boy, you are a man of surprises." She says sitting down on the ground with him and, seeing Benji with a guitar, smiles at him. "How ya feeling Benny? Sorry I didn't warn ya about eating those things whole."