[ The hall lies before Alcinoe! ] * Alcinoe runs down the hall, sheathed sword in hand! It's so not staying that way. [ Alci rounds a corner, and then another, and heads down a flight of stairs to the first basement. Once in the basement, she finds herself in a long hall. At the end of the hallway is another staircase leading down. Halfway between her and it are Kenji's parents. Both of them. ] [ "" says Hanatarou. "" ] * Alcinoe slows to a fast, purposeful walk, not even out of breath. She glares at her new parents, not intimidated in the least. "" is all she says as she approaches. [ "" says Hanatarou. "" ] [ Hanatarou seems different from before; even though his posture is still easygoing and laid back, he seems remarkably forceful and steadfast as he stands there, unarmed and unarmored. ] * Alcinoe continues to approach, muttering a quick prayer and then saying, in perfect Rokugani, "" [ Chikako smiles. "" Hanatarou nods. "" ] * Alcinoe looks at Hanatarou. "" At this point, she's practically on top of them, and she pushes Hanatarou aside if he continues to stand in her way. [ Hanatarou just stands there. And as a resuly, Alcinoe needs a Will save. ] [ Alcinoe stops short right in front of the little Rokugani man, and finds she can't cause herself to lay a hand on him. ] * Alcinoe glares at him, obviously furious. [ Hanatarou gives Alci a sympathetic look, and asks, "" ] * Alcinoe doesn't buy into the sympathy, but she answers as truthfully as ever. "" She looks to Chikako and says, clearly, "" [ " [ "" ] [ "" ] * Alcinoe changes the subject: "" [ "" Chikako sniffs derisively. "" Sarcasm much? ] [ Hanatarou nods slightly, and says "" ] * Alcinoe 's eyes flash. "" [ "", says Hanatarou. "" ] * Alcinoe is still shaking and still tense, but she also doesn't try charging through Chikako (though Hanataro probably gets the feeling that she would try, given half an excuse). [ "" says Hanatarou, "" ] [ Chikako smirks. "" says Hanatarou, "" The two split, and go to either side of Alcinoe, walking past her with efficient grace. ] * Alcinoe turns and stares at him. Allowance? What the fuck is that? But she doesn't think about that anymore, heading for the room to smash the oversized, extra spikey and evil chair. [ Alcinoe finds her way to the room. The chair is, in fact, fairly ordinary, save that it is very sturdy, and for the fact that it is a piece of furniture in a land that doesn't care much for furniture. Near it are two men; one in robes of the Kitsu colors, one in no colors, who is inspecting an assortment of tools and vials and tsking over the condition some of them are in. ] * Alcinoe doesn't even bother saying hi. She draws her sword and tosses the sheath to the floor, then brings the ebony down to destroy the wood. This is quickly followed by another three strikes, utterly demolishing the thing. [ The man in the unmarked cloth jumps in surprise at this and backs up against the wall; the Kitsu is much more philosophical about the whole thing, and just watches with a look of curiosity on his face. ] * Alcinoe finishes that, then moves to the tools and vials, destroying them one at a time. She doesn't say a word to the men; maybe they're not worth it. [ Before Alci moves on the vials, the Kitsu merely says, laconically, "" ] * Alcinoe picks up one of the vials, looks at it for a moment, and then nods. "" she asks, almost calmly. [ The Kitsu looks thoughtful. "" ] * Alcinoe nods and retrieves her sword, sheathing it and buckling it around her waist. "" she tells them as she collects the vials. [ The Kitsu looks at the man in the uncolored clothing and says dryly, "" ] ( Hm. Should that be 'drily'? ) * Alcinoe glares at them. "" And then she's gone, off to dispose of those vials. [ Alci finds the old moat with some direction and disposes of the chemicals, although she loses her nose hairs when she inhales while opening one of the bottles, and gets stung a bit while pouring another into the water. ] * Alcinoe doesn't seem to care. They're all gone? ( Yes. ) * Alcinoe ditches the remains of the vials and walks back for the rooms. She heads for Kenji's, first. * HKenji is, in fact, back in his room now that certain... matters are taken care of. * Alcinoe walks in. "What happened?" I'm afraid I had to execute Will. * Alcinoe stares at Kenji. * HKenji laughs. It was a near thing, I think. But he decided not to make a martyr of himself. * Alcinoe sighs. "It's a really bad time to make jokes like that, Kenji," she tells him. "I almost attacked you on the spot." She shuts the door behind herself. I doubt it. [ The sound of cicadas fills the air. ] It's just... I don't know what to think, and it's really... * Alcinoe sighs again. Confusing? Yes. Infuriating? Sometimes. I can't believe you people *do* this. That is because you have never read the imperial edicts. I don't care. It's wrong, Kenji. And you know it; I know you know it. Imperial edict states that crimes may only be resolved via confession. So you torture them. When they will not confess of their own accord. They are generally convicted first, based on the testimony of samurai. And then if they refuse to confess... well. Imperial edict is Imperial edict. So you torture them. When they don't confess to being a blood sorcerer, even if they're innocent, you torture them. If they confess, they obviously weren't innocent. Are you *mad*? Not everybody can stand up to professional torture! You know that. I know that. Imperial edict does not care. Even if we get a Kitsuki investigator and convict a man based entirely on physical evidence... if he will not confess, there is no option but torture. The matter can ONLY be closed with a confession. That is the stupidest- why haven't they changed it! *pause* Why did they make that rule in the first place! If you want to change that, it takes another imperial edict clarifying the matter. That requires standing up not only to the social order, but the Celestial Order. That takes incredible strength of will, and of those who try, even those who succeed die in the process. * Alcinoe listens to Kenji and processes that. "That's the only way?" The Emperor is descended directly from blessed Hantei, who is the favored son of Amaterasu. The Emperors are, as far as the law and the Celestial Order is concerned, infallible. Technically, one cannot even -override- an Imperial edict. One can only clarify when and where it applies. As for why the rule was made... it is tied directly into the virtues of Bushido. Samurai do not lie. That is why testimony is valued over evidence, and why, in the end, a crime must be resolved by the criminal implicating himself. But we know not everyone follows it, and you apply it to people who aren't samurai. There is only one thing that peasants can really be tortured for. for anything else, they are simply tried based on the testimony and evidence presented by their peers, and punished appropriately. After the Battle of Stolen Graves, we can take no chances with maho. So you would rather kill innocent people. I see. The first Bloodspeaker nearly conquered the empire, with nothing but maho-tsukai and the defiled bodies of the blessed ancestors. * Alcinoe nods once. To this day, all attempts to entirely wipe out the stain of maho within the empire have failed. All it would take is a single bloodspeaker cell summoning an oni to assault the Kaiu Wall from behind, and the Empire would be facing another invasion from the Shadowlands, and with the Crab having already fallen... repelling it would be difficult, at best. Impossible, at worst. If we fail to hold the Shadowlands, your former land is next, and they have no knowledge whatsoever of how to fight the Shadowlands. * Alcinoe looks around the room, then focuses on Kenji. "You let your fear rule you." Our fear for those we protect. You torture those you protect. When necessary. It isn't necessary. You decided to treat it as necessary. And for that, innocent people... * Alcinoe trails off, biting her lip. We decided that the potential destruction that even a single maho- tsukai can wreak outweighed the chance of innocent people being wrongfully executed for maho use. If you were faced with the choice between possibly executing an innocent man, and possibly dooming the world to destruction at the hands of the Shadowlands horde... can you really say you wouldn't err on the side of caution? * Alcinoe is silent for a long moment, then she says, slowly, "I don't know. I've never been in that situation." Exactly. But if I did decide that he had to die... it would be wrong. I would willfully be doing something wrong. * Alcinoe looks at Kenji. "Like killing Sherincal would have been wrong." The question, then, is, "What are you going to do about it?" Change it. It's evil and deeply so. I have to help change it however I can. There's no way I can let it go on without violating what *I* believe in. Then the first thing you must do is find an alternative.