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"Or they wanted to send a message to the queen, too." Hemera commented. "I doubt a troll of any hue or stealthy ability would risk angering the queen if it was just supposed to be a simple murder. Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you, Aconan. Feel free to call me Mera."

She gave Aconan a soft smile and put a hand on her shoulder. This greenblood had such simple logic. It was rather adorable. "This has been a trying night for us all. The shock and the tragedy of it all. Much less the standing enigma of what happens now. Fortunately, I am sure we will get to the bottom of this before any other dire events may unfold. Justice will be served."

Stepping back, she gestured politely and added, "I have some business to attend to; I hope we'll speak again soon."

With that, she returned to the ballblock, in time to see Eridia speaking to the purpleblood. Two highbloods mingling, well beyond Mera's own station. She would have to be careful not to step on any toes. First and foremost she made sure not to butt in, and found the great fortune that Eridia was moving away to do something else not long after.

Seeing her chance, Hemera stepped up to Gerard. "Good evening, Mister Rutven. I hope you have had the fortune to raise your spirits after the earlier events. Trolls sure have moved around since the previous hour. What do you think of Tigwyn and Comedi hanging out in the trophy block?" She wasn't one for gossip, usually; and hopefully voices wouldn't carry. If anything, she had the purest intentions. An honest question.

Anyway, she wasn't done here yet. "And what do you know about our host, Erilyn? They have a gorgeous hive, and I know I'm humbled to be able to visit their home for a party. Even if it has not gone the way it was planned," she admitted, looking demure. She straightened her dress some as she received her answer, and occasionally nodding.

"Fascinating. In fact, I am wondering another thing in regards to how off-track this event has gone. What do you know about the mutantbloods? Any thoughts on that scandalous surprise?" Mera for one had been shocked more than one existed. And before Byakko, any. There were cracks in the system; that wouldn't do going forward. Being born with a mutant blood color was tragic, but the good of the many always outweight the good of the few.

And drama, apparently, she found. Psykgi walked up to Gerard, ignoring Puchen because gosh the mixed feelings she had about that blueblood and gave him her best smile – he seemed the most energetic and dramatic, and he might actually talk to her.

”Well, quite the party!” she said to him, noting that he seemed to be... previously distraught? Hmm... what had she missed? Then again, didn't he have a reputation... of some kind...? ”So many interesting people... I'm afraid I missed so much action, protective lusus, you know... I really love your vest, by the way. It's absolutely gorgeous” she added, ”So, yes, such a crowd... what do you think of them? Such variety, am I right?”



Out of the corner of her eye, Psykgi saw...

Oh no.

Oh no no no.

That was Eridia, wasn't it. Psykgi knew that the chaotic party was too good to be true. Or her fault... also too much to hope? Psykgi, instead, decided to try to ignore her... but she was certain that the purpleblood would come and ruin everything soon enough... well, it was nothing worse than what her lusus would do, abyway.



(3/3 investigations finished)

elibae reserve :3

Lorata had intended to check out more of the armory after her stop in the central hivestem, but something Erilyn had said stuck out too much to her. So, instead of going back to pick up there, the little seadweller set out to find someone else to have a talk to. Or at least to squint at and think about a few things. It was only really luck that took her to the right outgrowth for what she'd intended, because unfortunately Alifax's charts still weren't being updated, but after a little looking around and poking her head into rooms, she found herself in the trophy block.

It was such an interesting room, full of things to look at, and once again she felt the need to investigate everything. But first things first! There was Deburu Comedi himself, talking to Tigwyn. That seemed a little surprising, and she paused to peer at them a moment before moving in closer. She waited for a lull in their conversation, and then flashed a bright smile at the two adults.

"Hello again!" She'd already spoken to Tigwyn twice, so she gave him a cheery nod before looking up at Comedi. "You two seem to be getting along well! I hadn't seen you talk before so I guess I didn't realize!" She also realized she hadn't really considered what she wanted to talk to him about. What Erilyn had said didn't really...She glanced around. "Did you come to look at all the trophies? There really are a lot of them. I bet you're super proud of Erilyn!"

She nodded along with interest and then excused herself to wander about the room, keeping the adults in sight.

Quote:

Used one investigation to move, and two on Comedi:
-You seem to be getting along with Tigwyn.
-Erilyn sure has accomplished a lot. Are you proud of them?

The new revelations unsettled Alifax, but he still had questions to ask. He wound his way into the trophy block again, blatantly ignoring the trolls lingering in the first room. Actually he was a little more interested in whatever was happening between Ioyana and Schrad...but that Comedi was here was interesting, and again there was an opportunity to figure out whether Awassi really had anything to do with any of this. The various people here - well, some of them seemed like they'd been closest to them, which meant they were likely to want to protect them. On the other hand, there was a potential for them to slip...

Alifax was careful to stay a distance away from Ioyana and not look toward either Comedi or the antlerbeast's head. "Mr. Ioyana, another question - how do Awassi's accomplishments stack up to your own crew's?" he asked with a nod toward the collected trophies, feeling a bit stiff. There was a lot of suspicion for their host, but Alifax still wasn't so sure about it - and besides, the military accomplishments had seemed sparse.

Well, he thought, eying the crest's bolas critically, that could always have something more to do with lack of interest in space than lack of interest in combat. It seemed fairly obvious that personal competence in the realms of combat were a far cry from combat up in space. You didn't need to get out of the ship to bomb aliens from afar. The sabres spoke to something a little unnervingly familiar - they were the current queen's favored weapon. Interesting, that multiple weapons were present on Awassi's crest, but again it could be a declaration of allegiance.

A recent declaration of allegiance, Alifax reminded himself - Marian hadn't been queen for long. The title queen had been in use for slightly shorter. Unless they'd been involved? Hm. That was a thought.

As he walked out he caught sight of Lorata. "Hey," he said, waving at her. He wasn't sure that he'd offer to talk - she seemed, if anything, an especially great blabbermouth. But she might have something to contribute, and he liked the idea of getting information from her in exchange for less information from him. He didn't know how well that could be accomplished. He headed briskly into the ballblock, though, because there was still more to be done, and he'd yet to approach Puchen.

A little blueblood was currently monopolizing her time, but when he finally stepped away Alifax stepped into place after him. "Don't know if you remember me - Alifax Bunsem," he said quickly. He wasn't sure whether it'd be a reminder that people knew about that incident...but it was awfully curious that she was here, given that. "What's your opinion of Awassi's career?" Why hadn't they gone into military service?

Sarcel hadn't been to the southern block yet. It seemed miraculously quiet; no one else seemed to be meandering about here yet, at least no one other than Erilyn who seemed mostly kept to themselves. Actually... they didn't look so good, were they okay? Sarcel watched them from across the room, but couldn't find the nerve to go ask, not since the whole stint with Tamiya and Alifax. She could still investigate, still do this... just, she needed to be alone for a little bit, that was all. A distraction or two or five or ten.

And where the ******** was her lusus? That sent bubbles of anxiety in her stomach. That first power surge had sent her reeling into the darkness, and in this large of a hive... she could be literally anywhere.

Later Sarcel, later. It wasn't as if she could get out (hopefully). Her shoes led her forward into a rather messy looking room, the Trophy block was in complete disarray. Had it always been like this? Sarcel hadn't been in here before, so... she wasn't really sure. Either way, it looked like there was a hell of an altercation that went down in here, and it just reeked suspicion. Her eyes stared at the Crest that was in dire need of re-alignment. Her fingers twitched, but she kept them tucked against her arms, crossed in front of her chest.

It was like walking through a story, and yet she couldn't parse together the finer details of the plot. Actually, even with the information she had gathered, she had no real cause to blame anyone as a suspect. Well, there were some obvious culprits, but there was nothing ultimately incriminating. She stopped in front of the taxidermied art, head slightly tilted. What the hell had happened in here? Even the record case looked to be destroyed. She knelt down by the remains, scouring it over.

She'd have to ask Alifax about this, maybe he'd know something. She wasn't ready to go back yet, though. Just a couple more minutes. She breathed.