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Gerard nodded rapidly at Sarcel’s commentary. With a flourish that consumed his entire shoulder he whipped out his arm towards her. His other wrist flicked and the back of his wrist touched his forehead delicately. “Yes!! Reason! Gog forbid!”

He swooped towards Sarcel and draped his hands on her shoulders. “I could not have said it better. You are a dear.” Looking out towards the crowd, Gerard shot venomous glances towards any troll who seemed against him. He suddenly spotted Eridia in the crowd, and brightened, her voice beginning to peal above the rest. However – a young greenblood stepped forward. And… As greenbloods tended to do… Stepped out of line.

“Woe!” Cried Gerard. He rushed now, over to the elegant pigtailed purpleblood, holding her hand in one of his black gloves. With the other he pushed at what could have been a tear budding behind his glasses and flicked his hair back. “Dear Eridia, don’t worry about me. No matter what others say about you you must stay true to yourself!! You must…! Rise above!”

He stepped forward with her in tow, powerful now as he himself had become inspired by his own words. “You bottomfeeders seek to bring me down because you’re intimidated by me! You want to make me your scapegoat! How about you bloodlet yourselves, just so we can see if you’re genuine? How dare you! I….I!!!”

Gerard clutched Eridia’s hand in his and then released it to turn away. He took a long moment to collect himself and whipped his head back towards the party guests. “I have a sensitive eye condition!! How… How dare you!!” With that, he petulantly wept into his dark gloves. Gerard sighed, faced forward and flipped his hair into position. He was weary and tart, furious and deflated. He seemed bolstered by the comments from the Queen. “How dare you.”

Oh, the greenblood was talking, Alifax thought, and he began to take notes so that he'd be able to apply them to the wall shortly.

Then...well, then he couldn't really seem to stop taking notes. People kept speaking up - was that Sarcel?

Well, it didn't matter. Of course he knew who'd written the accusation on the wall, because he'd been next to the guy when it happened. But he'd give the guy time to speak up. Alifax, on the other hand, would have this figured out by the end of the night.

[+] Kursha Vidari

The moment he entered the central hivestem, his spongeclots rang with the sound of high-pitched squawking. Filing into the room with several other trolls from the north outgrowth, Kursha studied the scene before him. The rumpus block was packed with the trolls from the party, all clustered to one side of the room. Some exchanged furtive glances with one another, but mostly their attention was focussed on the back wall. The chalk wall. Pushing his way through, Kursha forced his way to the front of the crowd. Off to one side he saw Regina seated as cool as you please, sipping a glass of Faygo. The main attraction however was the raving purpleblood, Gerard Rutven.

God, he was loud.

Keeping quiet for the time being, Kursha took in the scene. In between his tirade, Rutven gesticulated furiously and frequently towards the wall. Written there in red chalk was a piece of information that... oh. He squinted at the purpleblood, trying to discern the colour of his irises through the tint of his glasses. No good. It was an interesting theory, but without evidence just that. Not to mention totally irrelevant.

When Rutven finished, a familiar voice spoke out over the murmur of the crowd. Turning, Kursha looked surprised to see Sarcel, the nervous, introverted blueblood from the swamp. It seemed like she had acquired a backbone somewhere. Good for her. He would have to keep tabs on her for further developments. Perhaps there was more to the meek, st-st-stuttering blueblood than he realised. Her speech earned her a cry of agreement from the crowd.

Shortly after Sarcel, a troll with yellow—no green—blood stepped forward, introducing himself as Hazmas. As soon as he spoke, Kursha felt a stab of irritation. What the hell was that little pissant doing, throwing his name around? He had provided the information, true, but that did not mean everyone had permission to use him like a stamp of approval for whatever premature conclusions they had to offer. He ground his teeth.

Regina gave the troll a curt rebuttal, but even so Kursha took the pains to remember his name. He would not be a tool for someone to further their own agenda.

Finally there was Elidae. As Rutven doubled over in a pathetic display of anguished outrage, the yellowblood tore into Hazmas. Blinking, Kursha held his chin in his hand, covering his mouth. That made for the second surprise in character this evening.

“She's right,” he said, stepping up behind Elidae and speaking in a loud enough voice that most everyone could hear. He gave the yellowblood a wink. “And so is Sarce. It's just a rumour. Anyway, s**t like this isn't relevant at the moment.” He turned to Rutven.

“Like hell you need to open a vein. I'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding. Someone's trying to play us against each other, and make a scene. But we're smarter than that... right?” Kursha grinned. Did he believe a word of that? Of course not. Everything was suspect. But subtlety was the name of the game, and lies were their signature pieces.

With the purpleblood hopefully somewhat placated, Kursha directed his next words to the crowd, wearing a cat's smile. “Would the writer come forward? No need to be shy. We just want to give you a chance to explain yourself, offer an apology, and figure out what's really going on here.”

Whoever suggested having to cut open Gerard's veins to expose the truth must've been crazily stupid. Then again, it was Hazmas speaking. Eridia was about to slap some sense into the greenblood when Gerard's voice was heard and not a second late, he had approached the little purpleblood and took her hand. A light purple shade emerged on her cheeks as he spoke. "But... I can't stand and watch them throw you such insults!"

Then the adult's words inspired her and left the child awestruck. She followed Gerard silent, concentrating on his every word. Rise above... He was right, she had to rise above and stay true to herself. The redblood and those against them were all just jealous of them. The highblood swore she would defend him. When her hand was free, she brought it to her hot face, his smell still lingered on her palm. Eridia tried so hard not to sniff it, yet her face now flushed. The pain she felt in the North outgrowth disappeared, she momentarily forget everything else. "I will do anything to protect your good name Mister Rutven." She looked up to him and smile brightly at him. You are absolutely stunning.

"Want me to extract this imprudent greenblood's nasty blood color to see if he's genuine? Just to shut him up?" Eridia pressing her lips tight to keep herself from smiling because of that. This was serious business after all.

When Elidae and Kursha spoke her mouth twitched. It's not about whether is a rumor or not, but all about how insulting and humiliating it was. Besides she couldn't stand Kursha and he seemed closed to Eli, even gave her a wink.

"Apologize? Heh," She said after the teen spoke. "Who knew you'd give them the chance to explain themselves Commaaaander?" Eridia had a wide grin on her face as she looked at Kursha. She wanted to repay him for the kick, not caring how many times he'd hurt her, she would still be alive. After all, he was the one getting the consequences if he culled her. Not her. "Why don't cut their throat open with your fancy boots? They have meddled with Mister Rutven's integrity and that shouldn't go unpunished. Heck, I'm sure they'll get the point!" She beamed with a dark and giddy expression. "Who knows, maybe this troll thought they were brave."

She shook her head and put both hands on her hips.

"Maybe you have a thing for braaaave trolls."

Ҕᾁʐɱᾁʂ Ҏӫςɧῒɱ

The weight of the Queen's words crashed down on Hazmas like the debris of a collapsed tunnel. No. It was worse than a collapsed tunnel. So much worse that he wished it had been a collapsed tunnel, and that he had been inside it. Tears stung his eyes as he bowed his head in humiliation and shame. He never should've spoken up. He never should've done anything but what he was good at - scrounging and giving clues to the ones who could use them.

The only time his emotional train shifted gears was when he heard Gerard's nerve-grating response after her Majesty's words. His natural indignation rose up just enough for him to look up at the purple blood. It didn't help that Eridia was there, adding to his disdain for the purple-blooded adult. It almost brought up the question of how many dark feelings could he feel for one troll? Apparently not enough.

'I'd do it,' he thought, pressing his lips together to keep himself from saying it. 'I'd prove my bloodcolor to find the truth and stop lies against me.'

Then a yellow blood spoke and then... Kursha. Although his words weren't near as severe as her Majesty's, they were enough to squeltch that bit of prideful indignation. So once again, with eyes brimming with tears, the youngster bowed his head in defeat.

"Forgive me your Majesty," he said softly, lowering himself into a proper bow, "a-and....... Mr. Rutven. I'll remember my place from now on."

He tried not to look at anyone as he rose and retreated to a far seat, partly wishing someone had culled him just so he could escape the shame. Considering everything that had just happened, Hazmas wasn't sure someone wouldn't. It was then that he heard Chiara... claim responsibility?

Hazmas looked up, his cheeks still wet with tears. She was there with the rustblood who'd written down the rumor, taking responsibility for the rumor while simultaneously requesting Gerard prove himself. It was the bravest thing Hazmas had seen all night and he admired her for it.

The queen's hand slammed down on the side of her seat decisively, and she stood up. "Right! The blueblood grew a spine and stood up for whatever gravel-brained idiot mistook the wall for a gossip rag! You - " She pointed at Chiara, then jerked her thumb towards the wall. " - mix some humility with that pride, shut up, and go wipe that slander off the wall. You - " She pointed at Gerard, and jerked the same thumb towards the door. " - take a walk to cool down. If you all feel that this information is truly relevant to what the real problem is, then present it at the trial and we can go from there."

She gave the rest of the room a long, cool look. "And there will be an apology to him from that redblood. I don't care if they need to take a buddy to feel safe when the time comes, I want them to think about what kind of consequences happen when you throw stuff like that around in public, true or not. Miss blueblood, that's your responsibility, and I'll hold you to it. And all of you barking for a public blood display, consider what would happen if you were wrong."

Chiara...
Eridia couldn't believe her eyes. Her friend, her closest friend was against her. Taking the blame for the ruckus. This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening at all. The child didn't notice when Gerard stormed off. Eridia just closed her eyes, the purpleblood didn't want to see her or anyone. How could she take the blame? Why did she? Why not agree to her and Gerard? She would be safe, safe from being humiliated. The thought just... killed her inside.

Pain, which had subsided after Gerard's inspiring words, resurfaced, she clutched her shoulder again. Her posture was stiff, shoulders slowly squared, and she walked towards her lurching. Watching her erase the wild accusation made her mouth twitch. The friend whom she once considered being made out of the same goop trolls were made of was gone now. Why did you betray me, Chiara?

Why? Eridia searched for the right words.

"I have not one word of comfort." Eridia started and breathed in. "You deserve this... You have just killed yourself at the wrong time." Fists where clenched, as she prepared herself to hit the other. She was close to Chiara now. She could taste the blood she longed for. Eridia wanted to rip her to shreds. But...

...she couldn't.

She was too fond of her friend. Just too fond. They were a team. They would conquer and force others into their rules. They would hurt them, kill their ideals just to please their every whim. Exactly why such fondness was horrible and unnecessary. Lovedad was right after all. The avian lusus seemed to smile at all of this. At least she'd seen the light. "You know what?" She asked rhetorically and bitterly chuckled.

“It was a mistake," she said. Eridia couldn't look at her in the eyes. But the cruel thing was...

"It felt like the mistake was mine, for ever trusting you.”

With that Eridia stepped out of the Central outstream, wanting to be anywhere else but there.

Alifax returned from his quick search to glance over at the room's inhabitants again. Regina was still holding the chalk hostage, and he still hadn't managed to - well.

He knew a bit more than he had. It might be useful to create new charts for each hour, so that it was easy to distinguish between the states of each block at each point in time. He'd heard mumbling about their host's guilt, but somehow - well, somehow it didn't really seem like they were the one that Regina wanted to indict, unless they were in on it all, too.

Still, there was a lot to think about. Maybe his new examinations would prove helpful. Or...or maybe he could get one of his friends with discretion alone to discuss things. Sometimes it took multiple minds working in tandem.