#do NOT leave that mad mechanic alone with our poor trauma man!!!!!!!!

[ungodlysaltyinfrastructure]

Went back a few ep (up till like ep 11) and without fail, there is a reference to "Gears seems or might take a liking to you Alux!"

And like... what does that mean...

Call it a hunch, but I feel like Gears is going to try to steal/use Alux's powers in some way. Either it be he's secretly evil, or just uses Alux as a kind of infinite energy generator. (Mmmmmmmmhmhmh nuclear power plant Alux☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️)

And like. With the dialogue I've gathered, what the hell would Gears do if he was left alone with Alux???? 😟😟😟😟😟😰😰😰😨

[quillandink333]

Scarlet Carnations ~ Part III

BotW Link X Zelda ~ Detective AU

Rating: T

Word Count: 2k

WARNINGS: death, murder, loss, trauma, blood and gore, terrorism, organized crime, self-harm

Summary: Inspector Zelda Hyrule, assisted by the faithful Constable Link Fyori, is infamous for cracking the most confounding of cases in a town dominated by crime. Her latest assignment is to solve the murder of her own godmother, Impa Sheikah, the late CEO of Sheikah Tech. Incorporated, while staying under the radar of the dreaded Yiga organization.

Part I • Part II • Part III • Part IV • Part V • Part VI • Part VII • Epilogue • Masterlist

The investigation was still underway a week or so later, still without even a semblance of a lead to go on, or at least not a favourable one. Auntie Purah still had yet to take the Slate into the lab as she’d promised, which was understandable. She was still in deep mourning, after all. I, however, still got up at six o’clock each and every day to make my way to the site, as if the murderer would one day just walk out into the open if I waited long enough.

Truth be told, despite my conscious efforts to suppress it, a part of me deep down was growing weary of one fruitless search after another. Most of the cases I’d led up to this one had been closed within a maximum three days. Admittedly I’d even begun to consider ways to dispose of the fatal evidence I’d been carrying with me since the start of all this. No one but Paya and I knew of its existence, and no one but us would ever have to. Besides, if these egregious felonies truly were the designs of the organization—which they had to be—there was no way I’d ever find any clues leading toward the perpetrator’s true identity, let alone that of their ever elusive boss.

And yet, every morning when I returned to the scene of the crime, with officers bustling about and those who remained of my family sitting quietly in another room, I was reminded of my ultimate purpose. It wasn’t a matter of being able or unable to catch my godmother’s killer. It was one of necessity. Letting them roam the streets as they pleased was not even a part of the equation. I hadn’t spent the better part of the last decade toiling away to reach my current level of authority as a detective investigator simply to throw it all away as soon as my will was tested. That wasn’t what Auntie Impa, nor what Mother, would’ve wanted. I had to uncover the truth, no matter the cost.

What happened next, however, would make my distress up until then seem almost laughable.

I was made aware of it via wire on one muggy afternoon at my office, when I’d decided to work on typewriting up some reports. I picked up the phone only to hear the wails of one distraught Auntie Purah on the other end.

“Zelda, it’s terrible!” she cried. “The Slate—Impa’s Slate—I’ve looked everywhere, and so have Paya and Symin and all the men here on duty, but I—it’s...we can’t—we haven’t...” The poor, old woman was hyperventilating, creating awful static noises through the speaker’s papery membrane.

“Auntie, it’s okay. Calm down,” I urged gently. “Take a few deep breaths.”

“Alright...” A few moments of silence went by before I heard her voice again. “Thank you, dear.”

“Not at all. Now, what were you saying about the Slate?”

“It’s been stolen.”

I froze, breath stagnant and eyes glued to the edge of my desk. “It’s—what?”

“Stolen,” she repeated, only deepening the pit forming in my stomach, from where my heart was now pounding. “Right out from under our noses. We’ve searched high and low for it, but there’s been no sign of it, or the thief.”

I had to reign in my voice before I’d start shouting at her. “H-How can you be sure it was stolen?” The vigilant Link’s eyes now bore into me with intensity from his place by the file cabinets.

“The lock on the safe,” blubbered my auntie, “the one in the study that it’s always kept in. You know the one?”

“Yes?”

“It was broken, and the safe was empty.”

“But...that’s impossible.”

“Precisely!” she cried, giving me a start. “I still haven’t the foggiest how they did it.”

“I’ll be there in twenty.”

With that, I hung up and prepared for immediate departure, my assistant just a few paces behind me. I had to see this for myself.

Surely enough, when we arrived, the safe’s lock was destroyed beyond repair, and there was nothing but dust to be found inside. Unsurprisingly, the thief had been careful to leave no fingerprints behind, just as the killer had been. For now, though, it was too soon to say for certain that the same individual was behind both crimes.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed the lock mechanism had been melted. My eyes widened. “That’s not something you see every day.” Constable Fyori crouched down beside me, then gave a similar reaction when he noticed the cause of my astonishment.

The thief had to have been someone with access to a welding torch or something along those lines. There certainly weren’t many who fit that description, save for the police. In fact, the whole reason they were issued out to a select few officers was for this very purpose, but situations requiring said officers to break locks such as this one using such extreme methods were few and far between. Nevertheless, the possibility stood.

It was for this reason that I finally gave in and decided to take up the case with the chief detective once we’d finished here. As always, Constable Fyori accompanied me thereto.

Chief Bosphoramus’ office was neither too grand nor too modest, not unlike my own, though it still clearly belonged to someone of high rank. It resided on the third floor of the three-storey building where my dear colleague and I made our livelihoods, boasting a broad view of the deceivingly peaceful streets below.

“It seems UC3680G662LL was the only officer on the scene who was equipped with a cutting torch,” relayed the old man, hunched over the records lain across his desk. “Unfortunately, however, he resigned just yesterday.”

I waited a number of seconds for him to follow up with something useful, but to no avail. “So...what? You’re saying we can’t go question him now? Because he ran away?”

He clasped his fingers together in front of him, looking at me like an elementary school principal. “That is what I am saying, yes.”

I wanted to growl like a bear as imitated by a child, but I held it in. “You do realize what this means, don’t you?” I scoffed. “No doubt he was a member of the organization sent to steal the Slate after killing its owner.”

“Now you listen here, Inspector.” The chief’s tone turned serious. I closed my mouth. “You of all people should know that not a single square inch of this town is safe. Not even this precinct.”

“Yes, but Sir, surely you agree that this entire case has ‘Yiga’ written all over—”

“Are you mad?!”

His thundering voice made Link and I jump. The room fell silent, the chief’s eyes flickering between the door and the open window behind him.

Then he rose from his seat to close the shutters. “Have you some sort of death wish?” he continued at an infinitesimal volume in comparison.

I bit my tongue, restraining the urge to retort with, “Whose fault is that?” for I knew I would only be spinning my wheels. There’d once been a saying in this city: “When one sheep leads the way, all the rest follow.” And Chief Detective Bosphoramus was a perfect reflection of this. Every last member of the force was the same. Weak-willed curs. Shirking from their sworn duties and hiding away behind their shields of specious ignorance.

But despite the virus of cowardice festering throughout the bureau, my partner’s lasting air of calm resignation reminded me that no one could truly blame those affected by it.

The power that the Yiga organization possessed over the town was beyond compare. Those on City Council were nothing more than their puppets, and likewise were the police. Fear and massacre were the whips they raised to drive us all into submission and to punish any and all who had the will remaining to fight. But the one group who’d dared to challenge their might, who’d stood tall ever in the face of their tyranny, had been my godmother’s company. Thanks to her intelligent mind and righteous heart, the people had been given access to technology that would keep them safe, to a degree, from crime, and little by little, the company had developed into a beacon of hope for the town and its inhabitants. Until now.

Now, that hope had been snuffed out, like it had never been anything more than a week and vulnerable candle flame, flickering faint against the darkness of obscurity, in the first place.

Later that evening, when my gaze happened upon the knife block sitting on my kitchen counter at home, my steps halted. The scars on my arms left over from my last couple of years in secondary school—the period in my life following the yet unexplained events that had taken away the one I’d cherished most—had only just begun to fade. Even so...

I shook my head, turning my back to the kitchen. But then, I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder once more. I recalled the rush of adrenaline that took hold each time my skin was breached by icy steel. It was true that letting my emotions control me would get me nowhere, but maybe...maybe just this once, I could at least do something to assuage them.

Then the image of the gaping, dark red hole running straight through Auntie Impa’s neck flashed before my eyes. I covered my mouth, quickly swallowing the bile rising up from the bottom of my throat. The idea slipped my mind that very instant.

It wasn’t until the following day’s investigation that a substantial piece of the puzzle finally revealed itself to me.

For it to have taken a whole two days to find wasn’t all that unbelievable. Even I had to admit, although my stepsister was a spineless, tattling suck-up who’d always received far more credit and affection than she was worth, no one could have imagined her ever turning criminal.

Even so, I was certain that what I discovered there in her bedroom went against the expectations of all. Upon my entering, a faint glow of teal and tangerine peaking through the floorboards caught my eye. I went to lift the plank doing such poor work of hiding the thing from sight. There it was, unscratched and in perfect working condition, its screen lighting up and displaying that dastardly riddle I’d been confronted with several days prior and still didn’t know the answer to.

Although the mystery of where it had disappeared to had been solved, its reason for being here of all places was still unclear. Why would Paya have gone to such lengths just to get her hands on the Slate? It was difficult to imagine there being any information contained therein that she would want so direly to be kept secret from the world. She and her grandmother had been close since before I’d become a part of their family as a six-year-old.

Then something hard and marble-sized went flying across the floor when struck by the pointed toe of my shoe. I gave chase, soon realizing what it was when it slowed to a halt just before the south-facing wall of the room:

A bullet.

I didn’t even need to perform a striation comparison; anyone could clearly see that it matched the one I’d pried out of my mother’s memorial shrine. Whatever blood might’ve been here at one point must have simply been wiped up, and she must have stolen Link’s revolver with whatever methods she’d used to steal the Slate. Without a doubt, this room was the true crime scene I’d sought after since day one of the investigation.

But even in the face of this victory, I could hear the voices of those who would oppose me ringing in my ears. “Paya’s the mastermind?” they jeered. “Isn’t that a bit far-fetched?” But at this point, this case had already pushed me far beyond the boundaries of my patience. I didn’t have a single damn left to give about how flawed my logic might or might not have been. All that mattered now was that I had a suspect, and so help me, if I was correct in my line of thinking as suggested by the evidence, this criminal would receive no mercy.

[moonlit-nightingale]

.:RP-Void Crystal Arc:. Aftermath

Characters: Saranqerel Qalli (male Xaela), Dain Kotodama (male Xaela), Zen Are’a (male Seeker of the Sun), Professor Philologus (male Midlander hyur), Meinei Mei (female Plainsfolk lalafell) , Khongordzul Kagon (female Xaela), Akuro Nakamori (female Xaela), I’seirivine Idel (female Seeker of the Sun), Yesulun Qestir (female Xaela), Khaljar Oronir (male Xaela)

Rating: Nothing scary, general.  

Origin Date: 29 May 2018

In wake of defeating the Primus, the group goes to find Sari and deal with what’s happened in the wake of the Imperial resurgence.

Note: This is a continuation straight from the event. Also this is a great bunch of people that made this event awesome. Love ya’ll. ♥

{DM} The elevator is lowered back to that lab the group found today. The researcher is true to his word, swiping his card towards a back door that leads to a hallway with many other doors. The gaol. Doors are opened to find the cells oddly empty minus one unconscious W'behna and a Sari in the very back.

Meinei Mei lets out an ecstatic cry and flings herself forward, "Qalli!"

I'seirivine Idel gives a deep sigh of relief upon seeing them, her whole body losing some of the tension it had been holding.

Zen Are'a stayed back, ears flicking as he looked over the two men. He would leave it to the others, no point crowding the poor things.

Dain Kotodama spies Sari first. Even with Ben technically being first Sari had certainly been the one he was looking for. Still, with so many that would come to the man quickly he went to Ben’s cell. To free, and if unconscious, throw over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Saranqerel Qalli jumps at the cry and hug, looking very much worse for the wear as he yelps! His left hand goes to catch whatever was thrown at him...the other is still at his side. Magitek has replaced his corrupted right arm, all the way up to his shoulder. "Wh...it's over?"

Meinei Mei steps back a few feet, embarrassed but overcome with joy. There are no words.

I'seirivine Idel: "It's over, buddy," Izzie says from the entrance. She seems a little spooked by her own strong emotion, and stays at the entrance because of that.

Khaljar Oronir: "Did they bloody replace your arm?"

Saranqerel Qalli blinks looking over everyone. So many...to help him? It almost makes him sentimental but he does his best not to show it. He looks to Khaljar. "...aye...the disease spread to it..."

Yesulun Qestir moved to lean over and hug Sari shamelessly around the shoulders. She seemed not to be embarrassed of such things. Metal arms were kinda crummy to hug though.

Khongordzul Kagon looks about dispassionately. No glory, no sign of her pilgrimage. Oh well, at least she got to stab something.

Saranqerel Qalli blinks and returns the hug tightly. Oh Nhaama, NOW he was gonna get the sniffles. Damn Qestiri hugs!

Khaljar Oronir: "Let us hope that is not the 'cure' they speak of. I don't think the others still ill with the Adders can get their.. everything replaced.."

Dain Kotodama stepped out of the cell with the cat over one shoulder, looking first to Sari's arm. His own mechanical piece curling into a fist before his gaze turned away. "We'll turn the researcher over to the Alliance. Sari, can you walk?"

{DM} The researcher had slunk away, already on it to prove his good will. He holds the paper out to Izzie. "Most of the cure is oddly enough natural remedies. It's complicated alchemy though. It's rather ironic. Here."

Saranqerel Qalli peeks up from the hug, clinging to his friend. "...I think so...I have both legs...so that already puts me in a better boat than you, aye brother?"

Khaljar Oronir lowered an arm to hold his side with a grimace.

Dain Kotodama was silent a moment before a laugh left him. "I'll kick your arse with their replacements if you aren't kind."

Saranqerel Qalli looks over the tattered group. "Let's get out of here....sorry for everything."

I'seirivine Idel takes the paper out of his hands with a rough yank, and looks at it. Confirming it is indeed beyond her. "...this looks up the alley of that lala girl back at the camp...the one who talks to the wind or whatever...I bet we can do something with this!"

Yesulun Qestir might maybe release him so he could walk. Maybe. Alright she would. She eased back and straightened up again.

Zen Are'a: "Don't be sorry," came the small voice from the back, a small sigh escaping.

Khaljar Oronir: "Indeed! We all volunteered for this mission. We had every intention of seeing it through."

Akuro Nakamori nodded, then winced as her face protested the movement. She got kicked really hard, it would seem.

I'seirivine Idel: "Don't apologize about this again!" she says, shaking the paper at him to enforce Khal's words.

{DM} The researcher remains non-combative. "Look, I don't want to go back to the Empire after this. I'll fade away and you'll never see me again. I kept my word."

Dain Kotodama turns his gaze to the man. "You'll be handed over to the Alliance. If your cure works they may be lenient, furthermore capable defectors are valuable."

Meinei Mei walks up next to Sari, holding his metal hand. It didn't matter if he couldn't feel it, there was a connection and it was a solid reassurance that he was coming home.

{Researcher} sighs and shrugs. "At least it's something."

Khaljar Oronir: "You get home and get some rest, brother. I shall come check your condition soon! For now, I am going to get home and get yelled at by our medics.."

I'seirivine Idel clears her throat, trying not to cry from relief in front of the others. "I'll get this info to the camp right away!" And she speeds off to do so.

Saranqerel Qalli: "I think..." Going home alone seems intimidating. The trauma hasn't fully hit yet it seemed, shock reigning. "Dain, would it be possible for me to stay at the company? Sorry for intruding..."

Dain Kotodama: "We'll deliver him to the camp and motion him to be released to us... Prosthesis like that, are finicky and we have people fortunately involved in their care. Thank you brother, sister, for helping save him."

Yesulun Qestir seemed to notice her own injury now, one arm still bleeding from a rather deep cut. She covered it with her hand, listening.

Dain Kotodama: "Heh... Aye, as I said, it was my intention with those... injuries."

Saranqerel Qalli: "Everyone else needs healing as well. I'm sorry, you're all hurt." He bows low at that.

Khaljar Oronir: "What'd we say about apologizing, eh?"

Saranqerel Qalli: "...sorry..."

Zen Are'a finally cracked a slight smile at how fond everyone seemed of Sari. Seemed he really was a good guy. He began to walk away, a soft smile gracing his features. "Take care, everyone," he said quietly before continuing to walk, pulling those cards back out to play with.

Dain Kotodama: "Smack him. It's the only way he'll learn."

Meinei Mei: "Stop apologizing. You would have done the same for any of us. Besides, I've seen what this group is capable of. You don't want us to get mad." She looks back at Dain and pretends to prepare a shift shin kick.

Dain Kotodama had metal legs, a shin kick was low on his worry list!

Khaljar Oronir groaned. "The Sun shall remember this. You are too injured to be smacked in the head right now, but later!"

Saranqerel Qalli frowns, it's obvious shock is still in control. His good hand goes to his neck... "I need to find my necklace and then I can follow." He seems dazed, intent on that.

Akuro Nakamori rubs gently at her face again, trying to ease the pain, and wincing when her fingers make contact.

Meinei Mei 's jaw drops. "Seriously?"

Dain Kotodama frowned, looking back to Akuro. "Guide Sari to the Camp and then to our base. Brother Sari, I'll find your necklace."

Akuro Nakamori nodded to Dain in acknowledgement.

Meinei Mei looks to Dain. "I'll help if you'd like, ser."

Saranqerel Qalli: "You know it, aye? The bone one...symbols inscribed on the inside."

Dain Kotodama: "Aye, Mei. And I know it well, Sari. Leave it in my hands."

Saranqerel Qalli: "Thank you...sorry again..."

Yesulun Qestir sighed.

Khaljar Oronir reaches out a hand and flicks the main in the forehead.

Dain Kotodama: "Unlike brother Khaljar I will smack you in the head despite your injuries."

Meinei Mei bursts out laughing at you.

Saranqerel Qalli jumps at that. "....ow..."

Khaljar Oronir flicks again. "Stop." Flick. "Apologizing!"

Meinei Mei: "You'll get one of those every time you apologize..."

Dain Kotodama nodded to Mei, going to start ransacking the place in search of that necklace.

Meinei Mei: Let's do it.

Khaljar Oronir: "There, point made!"

Akuro Nakamori motioned to Sari. "Follow me."

Dain Kotodama: "It shouldn't be too far away. He wasn't a prisoner long and I doubt they threw out his kit. Check the lockers."

Meinei Mei runs back and gives Sari's leg a tight squeeze before returning to Dain's side.

Dain Kotodama: "I'll search the lockers on this side, can you get the other?"

Meinei Mei nods to Dain Kotodama. She runs off and gets busy searching

Khongordzul Kagon watches the group quietly before walking off. Hopefully there'd be something to kill on the way back home.

Khaljar Oronir: "<Ready, Yesui?>"

Saranqerel Qalli nods at Akuro....a face he didn't know but obviously an ally! Then he looked back to Khaljar. "...thank you, both of you. For everything."

Khaljar Oronir gave a wave. "Until next time!"

Yesulun Qestir gave Sari another squeeze. Then it was time to go apparently.

Saranqerel Qalli: "Travel safe..."

  ~Back at the Sword and Quill free company estate~

Meinei Mei tugs lightly on Sari's pants and holds up a small object with great pride. Standing on her tiptoes so he doesn't have to bend down too far.

Saranqerel Qalli looks down at the tug and he brightens up at the sight! "Oh! Thank you, if I'd lost this..."

Meinei Mei beams at you.

Saranqerel Qalli still seems in a daze, the shock will wear off soon enough.

Meinei Mei: "I have to go be emotional elsewhere now. Take care of yourself and stop apologizing. You're part of this place's heart." She wipes a tear and grins.

Saranqerel Qalli swallows at that, fastening the worn thing about his neck again. "Thank you...truly..."

Saranqerel Qalli gives popoto queen a hug.

Meinei Mei gives you a big hug.

Dain Kotodama was also there, standing somewhat quietly though certainly meeting Sari's gaze.

Saranqerel Qalli makes sure that heirloom is secure, looking over at Dain. It's like he doesn't know whether to laugh, cry, or just...something. "I know you're going to scold me...but sorry again for getting so many hurt. I was careless."

Dain Kotodama: "I'm not going to scold you. There was no way to tell you would be ambushed or infected... The only people at fault are dead."

Saranqerel Qalli: "Aye." A habit as his good arm went to hug the cold one, the metal smooth and dark. "...I suppose I need to learn to work metal instead of wood now, eh?"

Dain Kotodama: "You'll be taught basic maintenance, but you shouldn't worry over the greater details. Especially not right now."

Saranqerel Qalli: "How are my men? Did a cure get found? No one else died?"

Akuro Nakamori nodded to Dain once she dragged herself out of her thoughts, then went inside to go to the clinic and have her face checked over.

Dain Kotodama: "They yet live. A cure has been found, so they shall survive. Akuro, thank you."

Saranqerel Qalli: "Ah, good. I should get back soon. I'm technically AWOL now, I think..."

Dain Kotodama: "I'll have a missive written up. You were considered dead, so AWOL is an improvement. For now come. You need to rest."

Saranqerel Qalli: "I-I can write one up as well to explain my absence! I have to write back thank yous for the supplies, explosives...write back to Headquarters about everything."

Dain Kotodama: "You can do that when you're rested however." Dain motioned Sari to follow as he started to the clinic. He wanted the man inside and safe before it fell through.

Saranqerel Qalli was still rattling off all of the things left unfinished but he followed.

Dain Kotodama motioned to the bed. "Sit. Preferably lay down but I'll take as I can get."

Saranqerel Qalli: "And Captain Stone did so much...I should get him something. Roegadyns like rum right?"

Dain Kotodama: "If you listen to the gossip in the Sand, Roe like a lot of things." Dain stares at Sari a moment, his metal hand going out to grip the other’s magitech wrist. "You've lost your arm, perhaps more. Worry about the captain later."

Saranqerel Qalli of course doesn't fight the motion at all. It's almost as if he's looking at someone else's arm. "...it's weird. I don't know what to think, or do..."

Dain Kotodama squeezed softly. "You need to breathe, deep and easy, and accept what's happened. The pain will come soon..." For a moment he trailed off, red ringed eyes falling to his own replacement. A thing that never once stopped filling his head with pain and whispers of death. "But it will pass. I will be here for you. Mashuel and Mitsue will see to you as well."

Saranqerel Qalli: "Everything is just...off." Words couldn't explain it. It wasn't even like this after the Nadaam, after his torture by former brothers. "I wasn't even there very long, there's no reason to be upset..."

Dain Kotodama: "I understand. What's happened hasn't settled with you yet," Dain said simply, finally returning his gaze to Sari's.

Saranqerel Qalli: "Shock after trauma. It's rather textbook, isn't it?" A small chuckle. "And I call myself a healer!"

Dain Kotodama snorted. His right hand reaching up to attempt and poke the other between the eyes. "Is that what it's called? Well. They say the masters are the most susceptible to the common parts of their craft, or some such drivel."

Saranqerel Qalli raises his good hand to that poke, why was everyone doing that?! "I...guess I should rest." Oddly enough he wasn't sleepy. "It would be what I would recommend to someone. But if you hear anything about the cure, please let me know. I want to make sure they're ok."

Dain Kotodama: "The cure was found, Yayasha is testing it first but I have no doubt they'll be healed." The man motioned to one of the chairs. "I'll be here, so you'll know as soon as I know."

Saranqerel Qalli: "Aye...thank you, brother. Thank you even more so for facing battle in all of that. I know it couldn't have been easy." Slowly the Qalli goes to crawl under the sheets.

Dain Kotodama closed his eyes. Whatever he thought was buried and a snort was given as he came to sit on the edge of the bed. "War is easy. Saving what is important less so. Fortunately the greater task was accomplished today."

Saranqerel Qalli: "If you say so." The worry of the other male's combat fatigue still weighed on him but he pulled the covers up and closes his eye, trying to will himself to sleep.

Dain Kotodama: "I believe I just did say so, we'll have to teach you how to listen as well." The man huffed. Meaning to tease, not quite certain what else to say especially when how the man viewed his feelings as the least important in this case.