Sup?

Suuuuuuuuup?

Waaaazzaaaaaaaaappppp???

Lol, so what's on today's agenda?

Uhh... Get Crowley in jail and... whatever else we decide to do. XD

We should probably do a timeskip to morning pretty soon, but I want to wait until King is around first in case there was anything he needed to do.

Yeah, I think King Just had to resolve something between Ango and Morty.
On another note, I have no idea how anyone intends to keep Crowley in jail when he can just teleport out once he recovers. XD

Yeah, that's a problem... Crowley is pretty much un-jail-able, unless you can somehow keep him permanently exhausted so he can't teleport. Maybe I should just have him escape or be rescued before they try to imprison him. That would avoid the problem. XD

Unless someone can create a magical jail cell that cancels out Crowley's powers?

Hmmm, one solution is for Dianne to come around every few hours and sap his energy, but that would get tiring fast. If they but shackles on him, can he teleport out of them?

*put

Hmm, who's left to rescue him? XD

I'd say he could teleport out of shackles, unless they were magically enchanted so he can't.

There's probably no-one left to save him, unless Mia shows up and decides to. Or Vitis breaks out of jail and saves him. But I don't think Vitis likes Crowley that much anymore. XD

Oh, I forgot Mia. XD

Hmm, I could have Dianne make some magic shackles. It could be within reason because it was established that she's very familiar with magical items due to her once dealing in them in her shop.
What do you think?

If you want her to do that, then go ahead. Then we can see if anyone actually cares enough to rescue Crowley, or if he'll have to figure out a way to save himself. XD

Ok, I'll do that.Should we start?

Sure, I'll write a reply.

'Yeah, that's true,' said Armin thoughtfully. He reached down and picked up Crowley by his neck, like a plucked chicken. 'Are we going back now, or do you want to stay and admire the sewers for a bit longer?' he joked.

{Dianne just grumbles and walks for the nearest ladder. }
"Let's just get out of here..."
{Climbing up the ladder, Dianne looks back.}
"Um, will he even fit through the hole?"

Armin followed her, dragging Crowley along carelessly. 'Why not? He's no bigger than a person, except he's got wings. He'll fit.'

On the surface, Frederick and Ivy had located the manhole cover that Dianne and Armin were about to climb through. 'Be careful,' said Frederick softly. 'We don't know if they succeeded in capturing Crowley or not. He might be chasing them.' Ivy made a noise of acknowledgement and drew a small knife as she went to stand near the cover.

{Dianne nods, climbs up and lifts the cover.}
"We got him...Ivy, you can put the knife down now..."

Ivy lowered her knife and stepped backwards, looking a little sheepish. Beside her, Frederick let out a small sigh of relief. 'You got him? You didn't kill him?' Ivy said.

Once Dianne lifted the manhole cover, Armin began to climb the ladder behind her - with slight difficulty, as he had to use his undamaged hand to hold onto Crowley, and the one with the missing fingers to grip the ladder rungs.

{Dianne climbed out then turned around, looking to see if Armin needed help.}
"I would have killed him, but everytime I try to kill someone, everyone suddenly starts crying for me to not kill them, so...screw it."

Ivy pulled a face. 'You make it sound like we should be happy about you killing people. I mean, I know this guy's a crazy criminal, but I don't think he should DIE just for that.'

Armin paused at the top of the ladder, pushed Crowley's limp form up through the hole, and then climbed out himself with a groan of effort. Frederick looked down at the crowdragon, taking in his unconscious form and numerous injuries. 'Did you two fight with him?'

(Sorry for the slow reply, got distracted for a minute.)

(It's all good.)
{Dianne chuckles.} "Oh, Ivy, we are such different people. Yes, Fred, I fought with him. Challenging him was the only way to stop him from fleeing."
{Dianne then picks Crowley up with ease.}
"Let's go throw this scumbag in the slammer."

'And how are you planning to keep him in there?' Armin questioned. 'I didn't want to bring it up while we were chasing him, but... this guy can teleport. He's just going to teleport out of jail.'

{Dianne nods at Armin.} "Weeeelll, that's true, but I happen to know an enchantment that will help with that. It won't stop him from teleporting, but if he tries, the shackles and chains around him will go with him, basically preventing him from escaping the city."

'I hope it works, then,' said Armin, yawning. 'I'm not running after him again if he escapes. I'd go after Sargon if /he/ escaped, but I don't really care about this idiot.'

Frederick began to lead the way back to the prison building.

{Dianne follows Fred.} "It'll work. Trust me. And if he escapes, I'll go after him, but this time, I'll kill him."

'Well, I won't stop you,' said Armin. 'At least he'll be out of our way then.'

Ivy rolled her eyes. 'Who cares about this weirdo, anyway? Haven't we got more important things to worry about, like Sargon and Anastasia?'

"Anastasia is tucked safely in my pocket and if Sargon so much as looks like he'll try something, he'll lose both arms and head. I think we can afford to not worry about them for a while."

'Yeah, well, I still don't trust him not to try anything,' muttered Ivy. 'He seemed /way/ too calm when we caught him. He should have been furious, or scared, or... anything! But he hardly even seemed to care!'

'He's insane, Ivy,' said Armin with a hint of amusement. 'That's all the explanation you need.'

{Dianne looks down in thought.} "That is a concern. I know he's not the most...emotional person around, but to take the failure of his plans and the deaths of everyone he's ever known in stride like that? Something's definitely wrong there."

'Maybe he's just /really/ good at hiding his emotions?' Ivy suggested. 'Or maybe he's so insane that he doesn't even care about his people dying and his plans failing?'

Armin considered. 'I've known him a long time, and I've never seen him show much emotional response to anything, except occasional anger. I think what Ivy said is right - he's very good at hiding it.'

{Dianne frowns a bit.} "He must have a limit. No one but synthetics and automatons are completely without emotion. He might be good at hiding it, but it must be there. Come to think of it, if that's true, then he must loathe me. I'm kind of responsible for the majority of his losses."

'He already hated you from the moment you started working against him,' said Frederick, who was walking a little way ahead, but had been listening to their conversation. 'He sent Ana to try and kill you once, remember? But I've no doubt he hates you even more, now. You've caused a great amount of trouble for him.'

(I have to go soon, but I'll try to get one last post in.)

{Dianne smirks.} "In my defense, I was never going to go this far until he tried to have me killed. I was just going to wipe out his food and let the rest of you deal with it...Oh, what am I saying, this was inevitable...When Lucci asks you to do something, you don't half-ass it. Heheheh....(sigh)"

(Ok)

'So, if Lucci hadn't asked you to intervene, you wouldn't have done anything about Sargon?' said Armin. 'You'd have just run away and left us to deal with him?' He didn't sound accusing, just curious.

(Gonna head off now, see you!)

(Ok, bye!)

{Dianne just shrugged.} "Pretty much. I generally won't get involved unless I absolutely have to. Believe it or not, revealing myself like this is a dangerous prospect. There are people out there who either hunt necromancers or might be looking for people like me for other nefarious reasons."

'I guess that makes sense,' said Armin. 'So, once all this is over, you're probably not going to want to stick around here in case people try to go after you, right? I mean, you've definitely drawn attention to yourself doing all this.'

{Dianne glances at Ivy, then back to Armin.} "Yes. If I stay, you all might be brought into harm's way. It's better for everyone if I leave."

Ivy smirked. 'I already knew this,' she bragged.

Armin ignored her. 'Well, I understand why /you/ might be in danger, but why would /we/ be in harm's way just because you're here?' he said, looking at Dianne.

{Dianne looked back at Armin.} "Well, if the aforementioned were to show up and see us, 'chumming around', the might attack you as a way to get to me. Basically, they might try to do to me what Sargon did to you with your family. Blackmail, get it? "

Armin considered this. 'That kind of blackmail only works if the person being blackmailed actually cares what happens to the people being hurt. I was willing to go over to Sargon's side because he threatened to kill my family. You're saying that you care about /us/ enough for your enemies to use us as blackmail against you?'

"No." {Dianne said simply.} "I would never allow myself to be exploited in that manner, even if they threatened your lives, but, regardless of how I feel about you all, I doubt it would stop them from trying anyway. In this case, if it worked, the price would be well worth the reward."

Ivy snorted. 'I thought so. You don't care about us.'

Armin ignored her, again. 'So where are you planning to go?' he asked. 'Any specific countries in mind?'

{Dianne looks at Ivy with slight annoyance} "Regardless, the only way to ensure none of you get hurt is if I'm not here."
{She then turns to Armin.} "I really don't know. I'm not sure where the best place to go is. But before I go anywhere..."
{She glances at the locket hanging off her belt, a slight look of sadness in her eyes.}
"...I need to give this back to who it belongs to..."

Armin eyed the locket, trying to recall if he'd seen it or heard her mention it before. 'Who does that belong to? Friend? Family member? ...Someone else?' He then seemed to realise what he was saying and quickly added, 'You don't have to tell me anything if it's personal.'

"...The only real family I've ever had." {Judging by the look on her face, that story doesn't have a happy ending.} "But, nevermind that, we're here." {Dianne walks up to the prison, holding Crowley.}

Armin was curious, but respectfully let the subject drop. He wasn't keen on talking about his past family either, so he understood Dianne not wanting to.

Just as they were entering the prison building, Crowley stirred. 'Eyy... where're we goin'?' he mumbled in a slurred voice, obviously only half-conscious. 'We goin' to a nice place?'

{Dianne looks down at Crowley, a devious smile suddenly creeping across her face.}
"Oh, yeah, Crowley, we're going to a wonderful place full of murder and stealing! Everything you love, so just go back to sleep and I'll wake you when we get there, ok?"

''K,' said Crowley. 'There'd better be people to fight with. And blood. And... other cool stuff.' He then passed out again.

Ivy was just staring at Crowley, wearing a slightly disgusted expression.

{Dianne chuckles as he falls back asleep. Walking for the nearest cell, Dianne put him down inside.} "Hey, can someone find me two pairs of shackles and a long chain?"

'I can,' said Armin. 'I think I saw some around here once.' He walked off a little to investigate, going into a small room where various supplies and objects seemed to be stored. He came back a minute later with the shackles and chain. 'Will these do?'

(I forgot Frederick existed again. Sorry, Frederick.)

(Lol.)
"Yes, thank you."
{Dianne takes the shackles and chains, pulls out a knife, and starts to carve something into them.}
"This might take a few minutes..."

Everyone stood around and watched. 'It's gonna be so funny if these don't work and he just teleports away,' Ivy muttered.

{Dianne shoots Ivy a sharp look.} "It will work, Ivy. Despite everything I've shown you, you continue to doubt me?"
{Once the enchantments were finished, Dianne put the shackles Crowley's hands and feet, and wrapped the chain around him, forcing his wings against his body, locking it all together with an enchanted lock. The runes on all of it glow slightly once the lock was put in place.}
"There, he's secure. Can we go now?"
{She says while exiting and closing the cell door behind her.}

Armin nudged Crowley with his foot. 'Well, I guess we'll find out pretty soon if it works. We'll probably hear his enraged screeching from the other side of Sovereign.' He followed Dianne towards the exit, accompanied by Ivy and Frederick.

Ivy yawned as they all walked out. 'Well, I think /I'm/ going to go to bed. It's late, and we'll probably be really busy tomorrow if we're executing Sargon.' She eyed the others. 'Do you non-human guys /ever/ sleep? I'm sure I've never seen you.'

'We've been too busy lately to sleep,' said Frederick shortly. 'But, if nobody needs me for anything else, I think I'm going to follow Ivy's example.'

"Sleep is good."
{Dianne says while stretching.}
"A nice, hot bath and a comfortable bed. I think we've at least earned that, after everything we've done."

(So, if everyone sleeps, do we time skip?)

(I do want to timeskip soon, but I'm still waiting to hear from King first, to make sure he doesn't have anything to do with his characters.
So, we can either put this on hold until King's around, or we can leave some characters awake and keep doing random interactions. Either's fine with me.)

'Mm, sounds good,' said Ivy. 'I have a room to sleep in back at the palace. What about you guys?'

'I don't remember ever being given a room,' said Armin, 'but I can probably find one. Though, I don't think I'll sleep just yet. I'm a vampire, we don't need too much sleep.'

(Ok. I think, in that case, I'll throw Magnus out with Armin, as he doesn't sleep at all.)

Dianne: "I just found an empty one and put my stuff in there. Suit yourself, Armin. Maybe you can keep the draugrs company, as they don't sleep. Goodnight." {With that, Dianne walks for the palace, looking forward to a well deserved rest.}

(Alrighty. :) )

Ivy and Frederick both accompanied Dianne towards the palace, intending to find their own rooms and get some rest as well.

Armin stood there for a moment, in the street, watching everyone walk away. Then he turned and began to slowly make his way in the opposite direction, not going anywhere in particular, but simply walking and observing the sights of the almost-deserted city.

{As Armin walked, the sound of approaching footsteps is heard. It was Magnus. He was holding yet another guitar, softly playing as he walked.}
"Hey, I heard you fought the birb boi. Did I miss anything exciting?"

'Hey, Magnus,' said Armin, falling into step alongside the draugr. 'And no, you didn't miss a thing - unless you wanted to go running through a sewer pipe.'

"Ew, no."
{He chuckles.}
"So, did you guys kill the bird, or what?"

'No, he's in prison, locked up with some shackles Dianne made that are supposed to stop him from teleporting. I have no idea what we're actually going to do with him. I think Sargon's our priority right now.'

{Magnus gives a thoughtful look.} "Huh, Dianne didn't kill him? That's weird. But yes, Sargon's far more important. Dianne has Anastasia sealed in a rock. Do you think Sargon will leave her behind to save himself if the opportunity arose?"

'I don't know, really,' said Armin. 'We all know that Ana is madly loyal to Sargon, but I don't know how loyal /he/ is to /her.'/

"Fair point. Just considering the likelihood of her getting attacked in the night if Sargon somehow manages to get free. She's not letting Ana out of her sight, so she'll have that stone in her room."
{Magnus looks about thoughtfully.}
"So, what're you doing at this hour?"

//I don't think Sargon would stand much chance if he attacked Dianne,// Armin thought, with amusement. Then he shrugged and said, 'Not much. Vampires don't need to sleep much, and I slept recently... I think... so I thought I'd go for a walk. What about you? What have you been up to since I last saw you?'

"Eh, not much really."
{He said with a shrug.}
"I looted a bunch of Sargon's dead men and used their money and goods to buy a new guitar."
{He shows Armin his guitar. It was electric blue Flying V with Mother of Pearl inlaid into the stock.}
"Pretty nice, eh?"

Armin whistled. 'Very cool,' he said, sounding impressed. 'That must've cost a lot. So, you've just been wandering around the city since then, playing your guitar?'

"Pretty much. I noticed though, at first, the citizens around would give me disgusted looks, but when I'd talk to them or play a song, they seemed to lighten up. Well, most of them. It seems like they'd forget the fact that I'm literally a walking corpse entirely and ask the nice skeleton man for a request. It was nice..."

Armin patted Magnus's shoulder. 'You know, you seem like the kind of guy who just wants to have a normal life and have fun. And you can't because you're stuck as an undead monster working for Dianne. It's kinda sad.'

{Magnus nods.} "Yeah, but you forget, I already lived my life. I'm really just trying to make the most of my current existence. But don't feel too bad for me. Dianne's letting me go once Sargon's dead."

'Yeah, I guess so... wait, she's letting you go? I didn't think she'd ever do that.'

{Magnus chuckles.}
"I know, right? But, that's what she said. So, when Sargon goes on trial, you can be sure I'll be there to put a sword through him if he tries anything."

'Putting a sword through him wouldn't kill him,' said Armin thoughtfully. 'Though I guess it might stop him from escaping. I'm pretty certain he's going to try something. He seemed way too calm, like he already had a plan.'

"I know."
{Magnus says, rubbing his chin.}
"But what could he be planning? He's out of men, and his right hand is currently trapped in a rock. But, he must have some plan. Any ideas?"

Armin shrugged. 'No. Maybe he's just going to make a break for it during his trial. I'd keep an eye out for any sudden attacks, if I were you.'

"That'll be easy. Mostly because this form has no eyelids..."
{Magnus says with a laugh.}
But yeah, I'll be ready for anything."

(You know, I went back and read when Sargon first attacked, and despite what he's claimed in the later rp's, that first night, he explicitly ordered for all humans to be killed. Dude's such a liar. XD )

(That's mostly because I'm epically bad at remembering past conversations, so I'm always changing things. XD)

'I'll be keeping watch, too,' said Armin. 'In fact, I think everyone is going to be on edge. None of us really thinks the guy won't make a break for it. I know him, and I know it'd be out-of-character for him to not even /try/ to survive.'

{Magnus nods in understanding.}
"Well, at least we know he's going to try something. If we really wanted to keep him from going anywhere, we could compromise his arms and legs, so he can't run or fly in any form."

'Yeah, that will work,' said Armin. 'Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. If things go to plan... then everything will be over tomorrow.' He looked up at the sky, taking a deep breath of the cold night air. 'We'll finally get a bit of peace.'

"Yup. It'll all be over. So, what are you going to do once he's dead?"

Armin leaned against the side of a building, hands in his jacket pockets. 'I'm not sure,' he replied. 'I've been working towards Sargon's downfall for so long, I've never really considered what I might do after he's gone. Right now, everything feels kind of surreal. I'll probably think of something to do in the future, I just don't know what yet.'

{Magnus tilts his head.} "Well, there must be something you can do, or somewhere you've wanted to go. Starting tomorrow, you'll be totally free. Surely you'll celebrate that freedom somehow?"

(This is RR)

'Well, if there's going to be a huge party to celebrate Sargon's death, I'll definitely be there,' he said with a slight laugh. Then he turned serious again. 'But all jokes aside, I really don't know. Maybe I'll follow Dianne's example and leave the country. There's not much for me to do here anymore...'

{Magnus gives a thoughtful look.} "I see. So, she intends to widthdraw from the world once more. But what about you? What about the friends you've made?"

'Friends? Do I really have any friends here? I was under the impression that most of you just saw me as a useful ally. Well... that's not really true. I guess I do have one or two friends here. But is anyone even going to want me around once the war is over?'