hadriel_logs | I Guess My Race Is Run

Entry tags:

I Guess My Race Is Run

Who: Bianca + the City Guard
What: In which she surrenders herself to the City Guard after murdering Mello
Where: Guard HQ
When: July 16
Warnings: Partial nudity, Bianca being Bianca

If I ever murder anyone, I promise I shall turn myself in immediately.

It's not that Bianca wouldn't break a promise with casual ease if it happened to suit her. It's just that she's going to have to keep sharing a cave with all these people for an unpredictable quantity of future, and she's keenly aware of both the value of reputation and the damage she's done to hers with her impulsive actions.

So she doesn't even go home to pick up a clean shirt after Hakkai heals her gunshot wound. Nor does she trouble to bring the shirt Hakkai gave her, instead walking into the Guard HQ topless and unselfconscious.

"Hello? I surrender, my darlings. Will there be handcuffs?"

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Maketh sets her coffee down with a sigh. Of all the ways to start the day...

Well, she supposes it could be worse.

Maketh stands, rubbing her face. "Bianca. Are you injured?"

Bianca, who is still spattered with blood, smiles brightly.

"Not any more. That lovely gentleman in the clinic healed me completely. It's still a little tender."

She stretches up to show the scar, still pink but fading.

"I thought I had better come immediately after that. I'm afraid I killed Mello."

In another life, and with another person, that might come as a surprise. Maketh rubs her face again. Truthfully, the guard doesn't have handcuffs anymore than they have a cell. At least Bianca doesn't seem the type to make this more difficult than it already is. "I see. Might I ask how?"

If she's disappointed by the absence of handcuffs, Bianca doesn't show it. She leans forward, talking in a low, conspiratorial voice as if she and Maketh were planning a surprise party.

"I cut his throat. I'm afraid I was very angry with him."

Maketh supposes she ought to be glad Bianca did that instead of using bullets. Their ammo supply is running low again. But that's a small comfort - if it can even rightly be called that - in a wide sea of trouble. She sighs, rocking back on her heels. "So you did. You know he's only going to be resurrected, don't you? It won't last."

Bianca actually looks a little shocked at this.

"Of course I know that. I wouldn't kill someone I thought would remain dead. I have shaky impulse control, Maketh darling; I'm not a psychopath."

Maketh blinks, surprised. Normally the intention of slitting someone's throat is to put them in the ground. The rules in Hadriel are vastly different. The same scales cannot apply.

There's pain in dying here, even if it does not last.

"No, I don't think you are." Maketh has known such people, served alongside them and made use of their particular charms. She's killed herself, and more than once found herself enjoying it. Human nature is complicated, and so is Bianca. "I'll have to speak with the other guardsmen, to decide what's to be done. Would you like me to find you a shirt, in the meantime?"

It even has the merit of being the absolute truth. Bianca has done terrible things, and she knows it, but she wouldn't have intentionally ended Mello out of pique. She did exactly what she meant to: no less and no more.

She smiles up at Maketh.

"No need. It's not cold and I'd rather wait till I can wash before I put on fresh clothes. I shall await your pleasure."

"I see your sense of humor has not dimmed," Maketh comments. under social circumstances, Bianca's near nakedness would have made her blush - or, perhaps, smile just so. But this is business and bodies are bodies. Certain lines cannot be mixed. She inclines her head to the chair by her desk. "Sit, won't you?"

"It takes more than being trapped in a godridden murdercave to do that, Maketh, darling."

Bianca sits obediently. She's not doing a very good job of looking genuinely sorry, but she hopes being at least genuinely polite will compensate for that.

Nick said he was going to take it easy, and he meant it; however, he can't be completely idle, and he has to go get more paperwork at some point. While he could have asked Rey to get it for him (and he has a feeling that she will say that's what he should have done) or called Maketh to bring him more, he'd rather not stay cooped up in the house until he's fully fixed. He's not exactly the picture of health when he arrives, if that's possible for a machine: the button-up he wears has had its arm visibly stitched back on, and he's missing his trench coat entirely. On top of that, he's walking with a pronounced limp, and he's definitely got more nicks and scuffs on his synthetic skin. But he's up and moving, and that's better than the alternative.

It's also better condition than some folks are in, if the scene when he arrives at the station is any indication. Surprise crosses him as his eyes scan both the topless, blood-spattered Bianca and his boss. "The hell happened here?"

He's clearly not in the mood for formalities. This is what he gets for not coming in to the office.

Edited 2016-07-31 09:02 (UTC)

Bianca smiles to see him, as gracious as if she were welcoming him to her home.

"Nick! How wonderful to see you. I'm keeping the promise I made you, I'm afraid."

Maketh sighs, rubbing her face. "Bianca has killed Mello."

And if Maketh sounds more annoyed than dismayed at the fact, well. It was hardly unexpected.

Nick could not possibly look more unimpressed as his eyes make their way back to Bianca, narrowing once they get there.

"At least she's turning herself in. That's the only part that makes this easier on us. The rest is just muddying the waters."

"He wasn't going to let you catch him. I could try and tell you that was why I did it, but I respect both of you too much to lie."

Bianca stretches lazily.

"Do any of you have any cigarettes? And Nick, what's happened to you? You don't look at all well."

Maketh doesn't argue the point. It seems unlikely that Mello would have complied, but she'd been trying to avoid this very situation. Now things are complicated.

"I don't smoke."

Not on duty, anyway.

Maketh glances at Nick, not bothering to hide her concern. "We'll have to consult the others. I don't want this getting out of control.

Nick does smoke, but given how thoroughly irritated he is with Bianca at that moment, he's not about to offer her anything but a cold glare.

"I'm glad you respect us enough for that, Bianca," he returns to her, his voice sharp as he completely ignores her inquiry, "since you don't respect us enough to not take matters into your own damn hands."

He sighs and shakes his head, turning his attention to Maketh. It's already gotten out of control if people think they can deal out vigilante justice whenever they want. Now it's a matter of reining it in.

"Right. We need to deal with her and him, now. If he's dead, that means Hope will be the one to bring him back. Better have someone waiting at the temple for when he does."

Bianca ducks her head, an apologetic gesture with at least some real apology behind it.

"It's nothing to do with respecting you, Nick, dearheart. I didn't kill him for justice or as a commentary on the Guard's effectiveness. I did it because I was frustrated and miserable and he made me angry."

She hasn't missed cigarettes too much while she's been in Hadriel, but the power of association - this is not Bianca's first arrest, only her first in Hadriel - makes her crave one powerfully now. She doesn't know what to do with her hands, so she rests her elbows on the table and rests her chin firmly on her fingers.

"I meant to take him to Hope's temple myself. I only didn't because he put a bullet through one of my lungs."

No need, she thinks, to mention that what she meant to take to Hope was Mello's severed head. Nick probably wouldn't understand.

Edited 2016-08-01 11:12 (UTC)

Maketh sighs, rubbing her face again. Of course Mello fought back. He's the type. And if Bianca chose to get in close to kill the man, of course he'd protest. It's only natural.

Well, at least they didn't take any civilians with them.

"I'll assign guardsmen to it," Maketh says, already thinking of suitable candidates. Henry will be in charge, of course. He's one of the few she trusts unconditionally. He won't make mistakes. "Obviously we'll need to keep Bianca and Mello separated. I'd rather not lock anyone up. It's not a productive use of resources."

"Yeah," Nick agrees with Maketh. "We don't really have a place for it, anyway."

He crosses his arms, assuming Bianca got healed somewhere along the way. He doesn't see any major marks aside from a fading, pink scar, and she certainly doesn't sound like she's got a bullet in her lung anymore. There's some good news, at least.

"Look," he says, addressing Bianca, his tone softening, "I know he made you angry. Hell, I don't think anyone here is happy about what all happened, but taking it upon yourself to murder a man undermines what the Guard is trying to do here, even if that guy is the one who killed Sharon."

And given Nick's utter desire to kill Eddie Winter back home, that's a tough thing for him to say. The situation is different, he tells himself. Violence breeds more of it, especially in a place where the dead come back so easily. This can't continue.

Bianca drops her gaze, the closest she's come to looking actually embarrassed since she arrived here.

"You're right. Policing can only ever be by consent. I came here from..."

She pauses: explaining the barge is hard enough, explaining its cracked and twisted mirror is more than she's willing to do, especially to Nick.

"Well. Suffice to say that neither policing nor consent was given much priority there. I'm not unaware that adapting to that life may have warped my outlook somewhat."

And then she looks up again, not smiling, because she's about to say something she means.

"I, for one, am consenting. And I intend to do better. I cannot make myself regret my actions as far as Mello's concerned, but I very much regret undermining you. It wasn't my intention. I will gladly undertake whatever you feel to be a suitable penance."

It's better than Maketh expects. She's thankful that Bianca, for all her strangeness, thinks in a way that Maketh can understand. "All our worlds are different. There was bound to be a clash sooner or later."

That they avoided it this long is nothing short of a miracle.

Maketh is quiet for a moment, considering.

"A punishment will be decided upon. Something sufficient to show our authority, but not to overstep it. Mello will face something similar for his actions. He will obey because he will see it is the only choice."

She glances at Bianca. "I would prefer that you agree to this willingly."

"I do, Maketh darling. That's why I surrendered."

Bianca looks from one to the other, and then down at her hands.

"I trust you both. I know you won't decide on anything disproportionate or cruel. There's part of me that still insists on seeing that as a weakness - but I've lived long enough to know it's also a strength."

She lifts her head again to smile at Maketh.

"I'd prefer Hadriel to be a place that plays to that strength. I will do whatever's required."

That's better than Nick expects as well, though he has to admit he appreciates the fact that Bianca seems willing to shape up. Only time will tell if she'll make good on those seemingly honest intentions, though.

But he's willing to give her a chance. She did come to turn herself in, so she deserves that much. "I say community service should be fine," he says to Maketh before his eyes flick back to Bianca, "with less supervision than we'd be giving Mello, since she did come here on her own... as promised."

If she's as sincere about her intentions to do better as she was about turning herself in if she murdered someone, they'll be in good shape. If nothing else, she has that going for her.

Maketh nods. "The clinic, perhaps?"

It makes sense, thematically, to send someone who caused bodily harm to work in the place that attempts to prevent it. And while Bianca is no medic, it doesn't take extraordinary skill to assist one.

"At least we know she gets along with some of the people there."

Though sticking her with Miss Galloway, given their involvement in the fog incident, might not be such a good idea. His attentions returns to Bianca.

"How's that sound?" It might be unusual to ask the perpetrator of a crime for opinions on their punishment, but Bianca is an unusual individual, and Hadriel is an unusual place.

"Perfect. I can be useful there, and I don't really want to do it."

She offers them both a small smile.

"That makes it a proper punishment, doesn't it?"

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I Guess My Race Is Run

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/belatedly slides into this thread

YAY NICK

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