[18:46] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:46] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:46] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:46] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:46] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:47] <VoxPVoxD> Having counseled respectful distance up to now, does Piu recommend Sadako leave Garnet and Seiri be until they rejoin the others of their own accord? And either way, what does she do next?
[18:48] <Crion> She counsels tact, which is different from distance. If Sadako wishes to approach she should do so with clear eyes that her girlfriend and the possible Empress have just shared a moment.
[18:49] <Crion> Once she's left the girls to it, though, she needs to find Caedus.
[18:49] <Crion> He needs to know Garnet has the gift.
[18:50] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus is near the ship, inspecting the rations the crew is taking on board the hold. Well, ostensibly taking - the question of what the Defiance is going to be loading up with seems as-yet unresolved.
[18:50] <VoxPVoxD> And right now nothing's moving.
[18:50] <Crion> Piu: "Chief Petty Officer, a word?"
[18:51] * Quits: hrolf_ (Quit: My MacBook Air has gone to sleep. ZZZzzz…)
[18:51] <VoxPVoxD> Several of the sailors turn their heads.
[18:51] <VoxPVoxD> Chief Samperson: "Of course, Lady Piu."
[18:51] <VoxPVoxD> They're almost entirely out of earshot before the crew shares snickers and backslaps.
[18:53] <Crion> Piu: "Na gabh freagairt." <Don't react.>
[18:53] <Crion> "She can operate the old machines."
[18:54] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus takes in and lets out a slow, controlled breath. "Everyone knows??"
[18:54] <VoxPVoxD> *?
[18:55] <Crion> "The team that went. So our added damage is the two girls."
[18:55] <Crion> "And Ratel and Caxi if you count the jump from knowing her face to know her works."
[18:56] <Crion> "Since we're not gonna garrote her in her sleep, I need guidance on this as to what the House does want."
[19:00] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus is silent for a moment, looking out over the still water and the starry sky. "The doctrine is maximum damage without exposure. Being the arm that guides the hand that holds the Sword... could end it. All of it."
[19:01] <VoxPVoxD> "Of the people on the ship who know... who are the biggest liabilities? Where are our weak spots?"
[19:03] <Crion> Piu pauses. "We have significant pressure on Caxi and Ratel. The former is practically begging for the Immaculates to take her away and the latter is only alive because of, quite literally, my intervention. Seiri and Sadako have no station and are similarly compromised. Our biggest liabilites are my hearth."
[19:04] <Crion> "Which I won't be discussing our options are, per our previous conversation."
[19:04] <Crion> *options on
[19:05] * Joins: hrolfy
[19:06] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "What about points of tension between your hearth and the people we can control? If we need to apply pressure from the outside, who do we work?"
[19:06] * Quits: hrolf (Ping timeout: 121 seconds)
[19:08] <Crion> "Well, our fastidious monk has wings and a taste for sorcery, and is getting quite close to Caxi, so the obvious clear answer is out. Zhangyu doesn't like anyone except the hearth and maybe the girls, but he's still Ratel's favorite for command when we're off the ship. The biggest point of tension is Dryas and Ratel clash from time to time. Frankly, everyone likes everyone else."
[19:09] <Crion> "Ratel has command authority and can probably feel this mission slipping out of her control, but I don't see how her desperate and flailing helps us."
[19:10] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "It doesn't. In fact, I think it's either our first or second biggest liability."
[19:10] <Crion> Piu: "She's also the person we're most definitively stuck with."
[19:12] <VoxPVoxD> "Most, but not fully. You're point on the Commodore, so measure her up. We have to bring her on side or get your hearth in position to replace her as command."
[19:12] <VoxPVoxD> "She would be hard to bring down. But certainly not impossible."
[19:13] <Crion> Piu nods. "Will do. But I think it would be a mistake to take any drastic action while out of port."
[19:13] <Crion> "Changing captains is bad enough, but on the open sea? Perilous."
[19:14] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "All the more reason to think ahead. Whether we need to move in a week, a month, or never... it's never too early to develop a plan."
[19:15] <Crion> "True." She sighs. "How do you think Lao will react?"
[19:17] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "Suspiciously." A pause. "That is, with suspicion. Of the venture, of us, but most especially of Lady Garnet. He might take it up the ladder."
[19:18] <VoxPVoxD> Piu knows there's only really one person higher than the likes of Lao and To on the Iselsi ladder.
[19:19] <VoxPVoxD> "So we're going to need to make her a priority too. What's your best angle on her?"
[19:19] * Joins: hrolf
[19:21] <Crion> Piu: "Huck the jar into the sea and you exile her from Creation in a fate worse than death."
[19:21] <Crion> "Controlling her? Well, as far as that goes I don't think she has any desire to be Empress."
[19:21] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "What does she want, then?"
[19:22] <VoxPVoxD> "I don't think she likes you very much. And she lost whatever taste she had for me."
[19:23] <Crion> Piu: "Wise of her. But if I had to guess she dislikes more what we represent than us ourselves. What she wants, I'd wager, is to not be here at all. But that's different from wishing you're dead."
[19:26] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "That's another thing to do, then. Be sure enough of our bet that we're willing to wager our lives on it. Everyone's lives on it. If you can't do it directly, we need to figure out a proxy. Caxi hit it off with her, and the orphans stick to her like kelp to an oar. There's something in there."
[19:26] <VoxPVoxD> "Maybe Daizo is nonthreatening enough."
[19:27] <VoxPVoxD> "That brings me to my other concern. Dryas pulled me aside for an interrogation."
[19:27] <VoxPVoxD> "She's up to something."
[19:28] <Crion> Piu: "She usually is. What was it about?"
[19:30] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "Trying to get a rise out of me. Started with a confrontation over cargo, then when she started changing clothes in front of me, she moved on to probing about my sex life and family."
[19:31] <VoxPVoxD> "I don't know what it's about, but it's the first time she's paid me more attention than a sneer."
[19:31] <Crion> Piu sighs. "So it was about me, then."
[19:32] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "That would make sense. Did you cross her?"
[19:33] <Crion> "No, she's just perniciously curious, and more so when she likes or cares about somebody. I've put up a wall between hearth business and house business but I suspect I would not be the first to suggest that Lao should come up with some suitably armor-clad alibis regarding why he might have dealings with a young scion from House V'neef."
[19:34] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "Should I stipulate that it be a clad alibi?"
[19:34] <Crion> "Should be easier with our merchant marine in port."
[19:35] <Crion> Piu smiles wanly. "Yes, please. I don't think the idea of me sleeping with the brooding merchant mountain king of Abalone would stand up to five minutes of Dryas alone with him, anyway."
[19:36] <Crion> "...We need to keep in mind that the situation is changing. The Realm is...falling apart."
[19:36] <Crion> "It's above my grade what that means for the house, but..."
[19:36] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "Mine too."
[19:37] <VoxPVoxD> "But I take your point. We need guidance, or a clear signal that none is coming."
[19:38] <Crion> She sighs. "If worst comes to worst, setting up a pretender empire out here with Garnet as the figure head and Dryas running operations could do significant political damage to the Realm."
[19:38] <Crion> "It would also invite the wrath of Heaven, but, if it weakens Mnemon..."
[19:38] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "I bet you could sell it to her just that way, too. D'you think Garnet would pass the Immortal's Test?"
[19:39] * Quits: cbass (Connection closed)
[19:39] <VoxPVoxD> The Immortal's Test is the question every Chosen member of House Iselsi is posed upon formal initiation: A bheil d ’fhuath glan?
[19:40] <Crion> "Only technically."
[19:41] <Crion> "The test is quite vague about for what."
[19:41] <Crion> "But then, let House Mnemon cook in her kitchen for a little while, and maybe she'll get there."
[19:43] * Joins: cbass
[19:43] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "If only we could get her in a room with some real Dynasts without blowing the whole thing up."
[19:43] <VoxPVoxD> "Give her 20 minutes with any of her daughters, she'd invent Iselsi independently."
[19:44] <Crion> "...It could happen."
[19:44] <Crion> "Not with Mnemon."
[19:44] <Crion> "But that little rat they sent to run things? The new governor?"
[19:44] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "Hah/
[19:44] <VoxPVoxD> *Hah."
[19:44] <Crion> "We'd just have to think through the setup."
[19:46] <VoxPVoxD> Caedus: "We've got some time to think yet. Let me worry about options - you're our eyes and ears in every part of this operation that counts. Keep yourself, and me, informed."
[19:46] <Crion> Piu: "Will do."
[19:46] <VoxPVoxD> "Anything else?"
[19:46] <Crion> "Oh, and for the crowd..." She'll pull him in for a kiss, before departing.
[19:46] <VoxPVoxD> Mmm.