RVA: Shadow of History
Jan. 4th, 2015 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalThe good news, I've got the climax all set in my head, with it partially written out below.
The bad news now I have to write all the bits in the middle to fit it.
Salli stared at the young servant girl and the knife in her paw, said very calmly and distinctly, “Please put that down, Nari. You're frightening me,” and started counting the seconds under her breath.
“Y-you're coming with me!” Nari demanded, waving the knife vaguely in Salli's direction.
Salli kept her paws folded in her lap, making no movement that might be construed as either an attack or an attempt to get away. Instead she said, “And why would I do that? Because you have a knife?”
“Yes, exactly,” Nari gulped. “Because I have a knife.”
She smiled, and willed herself to be patient while the seconds ticked by. Time was her ally in this matter. “Nari, assuming I did go with you, what exactly are your plans? Try to get offworld?”
“Yes. Offworld. Away from here!” The poor girl's eyes were wide with fear, as if Salli had the knife and not her.
“And if I don't agree to go with you?”
“I'll... I'll hurt you!”
She shook her head. “Nari, Nari.... What would that accomplish? You could kill me, and prevent me from voicing my suspicions, but that wouldn't help you get away. A murdered Viscountess would just result in every spaceport, airport, tube station and border crossing Darktail Domain going on immediate lockdown. And before that happened, could you erase every bit of your DNA from this room? From the knife in your paw? They'll track you down for certain, because unless I'm very mistaken you have no knowledge of criminal society, and no means to obscure your identity. The first time you pass in front of a publicly posted CCTV camera or try to access your bank accounts Civil Protection will be down on your position in a matter of minutes.”
“And what do you think I should be doing?” Nari demanded.
“I think you should put the knife down, sit in the chair opposite me, and wait for Ali to come to me,” Salli told her. “You see, Ali both loves me dearly and would do anything to protect me. Now she's very competent at her job, and she knows how to disable rather than kill her opponents, but you threatening me will make her very scared. And scared people sometimes don't think things through very well, don't you agree?”
“You're trying to trick me!”
“No, I'm trying save you from making a much deeper mistake,” Salli said. She found it easy to keep her tone calm and level. Salli had spoken to monsters before, and she knew the serving girl was no monster. Nari's crimes were petty and simple by comparison to her late husband and Bloody Margo, after all. But they had been enough to raise the specter of her destruction, to make her desperate to find a way out, any way out. “You're already guilty of conspiracy, and now threatening a Countess' heir, but you may still find mercy in my mother's courts if you stop now and turn yourself in.”
“I don't want to go to prison!” Nari cried out, tears welling in her eyes.
“The choice is between prison and death, Nari,” Salli said, keeping her eyes locked on the weeping girl's. “In prison you have a chance to find redemption for your crimes. Murder me and the only way out of this will end is with your burial.”
“This isn't fair!” Nari sobbed. “I've never hurt anyone and you tell me I might go to prison! But you've got that cub killer, that monster, walking free to serve you!”
“Ali is no monster,” she said. “The murders she committed were done when she was a slave, with no choices allowed her. And I see the consequences of those crimes with every nightmare that haunts her sleep. She will spend the rest of her life trying to make up for them and likely die in her old age knowing nothing was ever enough to wash the blood from her paws. She will never, ever be free.” Salli said that last word with an unintended hiss, making Nari take a step back in surprise. “But if you stop here and now, you still have a chance to live with your conscience intact.”
At that point the door burst open and Ali, warned by the keywords Salli had spoken in range of the comset sitting in her breast pocket, rushed in, her stunner in hand and pointed at Nari's head.
The bad news now I have to write all the bits in the middle to fit it.
Salli stared at the young servant girl and the knife in her paw, said very calmly and distinctly, “Please put that down, Nari. You're frightening me,” and started counting the seconds under her breath.
“Y-you're coming with me!” Nari demanded, waving the knife vaguely in Salli's direction.
Salli kept her paws folded in her lap, making no movement that might be construed as either an attack or an attempt to get away. Instead she said, “And why would I do that? Because you have a knife?”
“Yes, exactly,” Nari gulped. “Because I have a knife.”
She smiled, and willed herself to be patient while the seconds ticked by. Time was her ally in this matter. “Nari, assuming I did go with you, what exactly are your plans? Try to get offworld?”
“Yes. Offworld. Away from here!” The poor girl's eyes were wide with fear, as if Salli had the knife and not her.
“And if I don't agree to go with you?”
“I'll... I'll hurt you!”
She shook her head. “Nari, Nari.... What would that accomplish? You could kill me, and prevent me from voicing my suspicions, but that wouldn't help you get away. A murdered Viscountess would just result in every spaceport, airport, tube station and border crossing Darktail Domain going on immediate lockdown. And before that happened, could you erase every bit of your DNA from this room? From the knife in your paw? They'll track you down for certain, because unless I'm very mistaken you have no knowledge of criminal society, and no means to obscure your identity. The first time you pass in front of a publicly posted CCTV camera or try to access your bank accounts Civil Protection will be down on your position in a matter of minutes.”
“And what do you think I should be doing?” Nari demanded.
“I think you should put the knife down, sit in the chair opposite me, and wait for Ali to come to me,” Salli told her. “You see, Ali both loves me dearly and would do anything to protect me. Now she's very competent at her job, and she knows how to disable rather than kill her opponents, but you threatening me will make her very scared. And scared people sometimes don't think things through very well, don't you agree?”
“You're trying to trick me!”
“No, I'm trying save you from making a much deeper mistake,” Salli said. She found it easy to keep her tone calm and level. Salli had spoken to monsters before, and she knew the serving girl was no monster. Nari's crimes were petty and simple by comparison to her late husband and Bloody Margo, after all. But they had been enough to raise the specter of her destruction, to make her desperate to find a way out, any way out. “You're already guilty of conspiracy, and now threatening a Countess' heir, but you may still find mercy in my mother's courts if you stop now and turn yourself in.”
“I don't want to go to prison!” Nari cried out, tears welling in her eyes.
“The choice is between prison and death, Nari,” Salli said, keeping her eyes locked on the weeping girl's. “In prison you have a chance to find redemption for your crimes. Murder me and the only way out of this will end is with your burial.”
“This isn't fair!” Nari sobbed. “I've never hurt anyone and you tell me I might go to prison! But you've got that cub killer, that monster, walking free to serve you!”
“Ali is no monster,” she said. “The murders she committed were done when she was a slave, with no choices allowed her. And I see the consequences of those crimes with every nightmare that haunts her sleep. She will spend the rest of her life trying to make up for them and likely die in her old age knowing nothing was ever enough to wash the blood from her paws. She will never, ever be free.” Salli said that last word with an unintended hiss, making Nari take a step back in surprise. “But if you stop here and now, you still have a chance to live with your conscience intact.”
At that point the door burst open and Ali, warned by the keywords Salli had spoken in range of the comset sitting in her breast pocket, rushed in, her stunner in hand and pointed at Nari's head.
