lowestclass | IC INBOX

Hah. Well. About that.

[He gets quiet.]

She’ll not bother you anymore. I made sure. [He’ll let Jinwoo draw his own conclusions from that. He’s walking a tightrope here, and pulling Jinwoo along with him.] I’ll tell people I was at the Vogue working—and drinking—late. I need you to swear that I was doing exactly that, and you were there to see it. You even left me in the basement with a blanket after I passed out down there.

[ now, Jinwoo isn't the smartest man in the book. So Edward being vague makes him stare, confusedly at him for a moment.

hold on.

It's loading. ]

[ oh, he figured it out. His back straightens, his mouth hangs open--and there's a mixed sense of feelings driving through him. He can't tell if they're elated, relieved, or terrified.

a cocktail of all three and he reaches out go grab Edward's arm--a sort of skittish energy escaping him.

...Elation might be the most active emotion. ]

...You.

Edward, you amazing, idiotic fool.

[ he whispers this, but, he shakes his head. Both hands moving to clasp over his face, where he sighs out a huge sound--relief, if Edward needs to be sure how Jinwoo's feeling. ]

...I can do that.
I always work late at the Vogue due to my condition. It's a solid alibi. So long as we stick to it.

--Will you need others to have this for you? I can make up a messy bed down there for you, in a few minutes. Tell Zulius you were down there, didn't make a mess, I.

...

Edward. [ thank you. ]

I’ve been called a fool many times before. [Softly:] She hurt Jun and Dan Heng. On my fucking ship. She doesn’t get to walk away from that.

[And he doesn’t regret it. What he does regret is that it had to come to this.

He nods.]

Tell him—oh, tell him and everyone else, when I woke up, you escorted me back to the docks. Left when I told you that I could make it to the Jackdaw on my own. [He scratches the back of his neck.] You’ll probably have to hold your nose, I did make a mess—spilled a bit of rum in the basement when I got back. For authenticity’s sake.

Edited 2024-03-14 23:00 (UTC)

[ Jinwoo makes a ... face. He didn't know Dan Heng or Blade personally, but after spending that long on a ship with Jun and Mikleo?

He can't say he wasn't feeling a bit stabby towards the woman himself. Problem was, he couldn't figure out a proper way to end her life without becoming a suspect. He's still a weakling, he'd have to have thought about it for AGES. And yet. Edward did it. Just like that.

It's hard to not hug him right now. ]

Hey, it's fine. Trust me when I say some of the jobs I've done for the Order are way grosser than a bit of bile and rum on the floor.

...

Edward, I want to give you a gift. Is that okay?

I’ll take your word for it.

[It’s the chunky rum that not even demons want to try buddy are you sure. He fiddles a little with the bracer on his arm, adjusting and readjusting the straps, a habit betraying his nerves. Murder was a lot easier to get away with in the West Indies. Here, with eyes everywhere, he can’t help but worry just a little.

He’d left the body there so it would look like some random mugger had stabbed someone, panicked, and ran. He hopes that’s enough.]

You’re giving me so much already, Jinwoo. But all right, I’ve never been one to turn down a gift.

[ it'll be left in such a way that makes it so... completely difficult to point a finger on who it might be. A single stab, no magic or trace of special power left behind.

A pathetic way to die. And that for some reason, makes Jinwoo want to laugh.

He doesn't.

He raises a hand up to pinch between his eyes, to fight off the manic feeling so he can take this thing seriously.
He is an actor--he does know how to hold a face, how to hold a tone.

From inside his jacket, he produces a white-steel dagger, handing it to him. ]

I know you probably don't need it. But you could use it better than a weakling like me. I've got a dagger I prefer over this one.

This one halves your weight, making climbing, running, and jumping easier.

Something I don't really do.

[Edward turns the dagger over in his hand, flips it around to test the balance of it. Then he hides it in his coat, concealing it from view.]

I’ll put it to good use when I find a chance. [Not now, not any time soon, but someday.] Certainly it’s damned useful, and a pretty sight to boot.

[He does pause a moment, then looks at Jinwoo and shakes his head a little bit.]

I’ve known weaklings, mate. I’ve killed them. [His tone is matter-of-fact. Teresa is just one more murder that will fade in time once all this blows over.] You’re not a weakling. No weakling could’ve done what you did and helped take out both a kraken and a sea serpent. So what if you’re not so impressive as the rest of us? You have a strength all your own.

Of course. It's better in your hands than rotting away in one of my pockets. You're a talented man, Captain, my Captain.

And you have no idea the favor you've done a lot of us by taking the weight of this.

[ he looks away, sheepish, as the other. legitimately compliments him, a bit of a dusting of pink on his usually very greyish-white face. vampire problems. ]

...Thank you, Edward. Hearing that gives me strength, so I'll hold onto it.

[ haha... ]

Mm. Should I teleport you back to the Jackdaw? That way it gives you even more of an alibi. Noone saw you leave because I can teleport via shadows of the places I've been before.

From the 'basement' to the captain's hold is easy. Noone will see you leave the Vogue today.

[cheerful:] I know I'm talented, mate, it's just one of my many charms. [More serious now:] I didn't do this as a favor, Jinwoo. She was a threat to you and to the rest of my crew, taking her out was really the only choice I could make. I only regret I hadn't done it sooner and averted the bloodshed.

[He'd planned this for a while. He'd bought cheap and disposable clothes, had learned how to change his hair and his eyes, had followed her around for weeks learning her routine. In all that time he ought to have done it then, but he'd been worried something might go wrong.

Well, something did go wrong, and now people Edward swore to himself he'd keep safe are badly hurt. He'll—He'll check on them, soon. He just needs to iron out his alibi, first.]

Jinwoo...

[He's asking so much of him already. He's asking him to put himself at risk with people he works for, with his team here, possibly even with Lapis. He fiddles restlessly with his bracer, the hidden blade now clean of Teresa's blood.

Leap of faith. Time to let him in on what he's thinking.]

I don't think a teleportation will be necessary, no. I want people to see me leaving the Vogue later: drunk, swaying, barely able to stand. You all know I've been...off-balance, recently, [which is a nice way of saying he's been dealing with shock after shock,] and I've been known to get horribly drunk when that happens. If you'll allow it, I'll be hanging off your arm, needing someone sober to get me back to the docks.

[He shrugs.]

After all, what harm could a rum-sodden old pirate such as me do?

[ he's aware of the danger he's putting himself into. He knows how the Order works--but other than the branch in Kaisou, what has the Order ever done for him? Kidnap him from his family with threats of sealing away the entity keeping him alive, forcing him to go on do-or-die missions, to fake his death, lose his family, the goal he'd worked towards his whole life...

No. as much as this is to help one of his friends--one of his Only friends outside of the Order--it was also spite. He was doing this to spite the people who had ruined his life. And boy can you run on spite for a long time. ]

...I know. Between you losing your family by being transported here, a world hundreds of years in the future. Finding out you have--had a family but are unable to hold it in your hands any longer.

I have memories of a past life where I had a family. Even a son, too. But that was a life lived and gone. You didn't get to participate in any of it, and there's never a promise you'll ever get to go home from this place.
If any man in Kaisou deserves to drink himself silly, it's you, Edward.

And as such--as your friend.
I'll see you safely get home. No matter how much of a silly drunk you become, no matter how much of a handful you become.

Even if I have to tie you to Tank's back and carry you home while you sing me a tale of the sea and of loves and lost.

I'll even drink with you.

I can't get drunk still, but. It's the thought that counts, isn't it?

IC INBOX

no subject

1/3

2/3

3/3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject