[DH] Blood Will Out - IC

[Ionbound]

Spoiler: The Ice-House

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Caelica nods and says, "You're right. I almost missed that. Nice catch."

[Cilvyn]

Arue

Unusual, yes, but taken from all different kinds of disciplines and wel trained in this sort of thing.

She looked at the maid bringing in food and immediatly went to the table to get herself a plate with meat and fruit, avoiding the bone white vegetables as much she could and went back to Reginald

Mh! this tastes good.

I don't want to be demanding, After dinner I would like to retreat to the sleeping quarters. I have had a long trip and I am a little tired. I don't want to be rude, your hospitality is very much appreciated. I think it is better I recover my strenghts for tomorrow.
She looks at Gideon most of the time, she sees him as the one who would allow her to dismiss herself.

Oh, Mister Reginald, sir. Can I.. she looks at her rifle a little hesitating to ask it back from the nobleman who seems to like it so much.

[Vexing]

Then...
"So it has! I think I'll avail myself of some; excuse me, gentlemen." Leaving Demetrius and Gideon to argue, he'd shuffle over to the tray and fix himself a rather modest portion of fruits and vegetables, notably avoiding the meat as he selected the choicer specimens of flora. If possible, he'd take the rest of the time to briefly introduce himself to the rest of the family between picking at his food; nothing drawn out, so much as a smile, a nod, and a name. Recognition might be important later on. After he was finished and had allowed a few minutes for the meal to set, he'd quietly excuse himself from the room and ask the first servant he came across to direct him to the guest quarters.

...Now!
After arriving at his Cell's quarters, Halt would busy himself checking over his equipment until everyone arrived; ensuring his auto-quill was calibrated, checking the action on his Ius before loading it and placing it back into his bag, and giving the dossiers another once over. When his fellow Acolytes had all arrived, he'd attempt to introduce himself a touch more formally. "My name is Halt Taillé. Perhaps we should introduce ourselves and our areas of expertise, before going any further? I, myself, am skilled in forensic examination and technical interfacing with machine spirits."

[LeSwordfish]

"Oh! Of course." Reginald said, handing the rifle back. "My apologies. A fine piece; i'll have to get one of my own."

[Thragka]

Llewelyn took a large plateful of meat, and a few pieces of fruit. You never knew when the next meal in the field was going to come. "Sir, Ma'am," he said to anyone he ended up eating beside. "Drusian. At your service." The cadet did not feel he had much to add to the conversation. Instead he merely listened, and committed details to memory. The only thing that stirred a response was the mention of Ulbrexis. That raised an eyebrow.

As Halt was leaving, he looked around and frowned. "Excuse me. Your brother, and half-sister - are they returning?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Olivier and Cassandra haven't turned up, have they? If so I'll edit and switch to the later meeting.

[LeSwordfish]

"Cassandra? Never did like to socialise much." De Pfeiffel announced. "And as for our dear brother, I assume he's found some excuse to avoid us."

"I can't imagine why." Augustus drawled. Beside him, the dog had raised it's head and was giving Llewelyn a warning look, ears back, and a low growl rumbled in it's throat. Augustus turned to it sharply and barked a command in high gothic. "Arista! Subsisto!" The dog settled it's head back on its forepaws and ceased the growl- though it continued to look at Llewelyn with distrust.

[Cilvyn]

Spoiler: OOC

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I'll just say I found my way to the quarters :)

When Halt arrives at the quarters, Arue is already there sititng on a bed. het backpack is laying besides her on the matras. She is already wearing her nightdress She is polishing her riflle, partially disassembled, with a piece of cloth. She hums a unfamairly tune but stops when Halt enters the room a little surprized he is here also already

You tired as wel? she sais skittish.

She quickly assembles the rifle again wraps it in cloths, lays it under her bed and then answers Halt.Hi, my pleasure. I am Arue, as you can see I am a long ranged and infiltration specialist. Sorry the trip was tiring, I will be in better condition tomorrow after a good nights sleep.

[Thragka]

"Of course. But Lord Constantine did say he was only going to check on her - I thought that would mean he'd return." It was not ideal for a VIP to disappear during an active mission. Especially if there was any weight to his belief in foul play. "Excuse me."

Llewelyn left the smoking room and began to quickly search the vicinity for Olivier, hoping a servant might point him in the right direction.

[LeSwordfish]

The Library

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Kadie rattled off a list of instructions, and Llewelyn followed them up a flight of servant's stairs, to arrive at the library via a doorway that was almost hidden between a pair of bookshelves. The library was spacious- two levels of most of a wing of the house - and surprisingly slapdash, with books not in the regimented rows of the smoking-room, but shoved higgledy-piggledy onto bookcases, piled high on tables, and stacked on spindly chairs- there seemed to be about twice as many of them as the shelf space strictly allowed.

Olivier was sitting, entirely unharmed, at a broad mahogany table in the center of the room, poring over a broad volume of portraits with a young woman with a mass of dark hair. Hearing the door open, they turned- the woman gave Llewelyn a dark look, while Olivier smiled, a little embarrassed.

"My absense has been noted, I see?" he chuckled. "This is my sister Cassandra. Cassandra, this is... one of the investigators." Llewelyn had the feeling the baron had forgotten his name.

OOC: And who would do that?

[Thragka]

Llewelyn in the Library

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This time the hand only got to hip height before the cadet remembered not to salute. "Llewelyn Drusian, ma'am. At your service."

He nodded deferentially to the baron. "Uh, yessir, but mostly by me." He coughed awkwardly. "Not that I'm telling you what to do in your own home, my Lord, but if we're treating this as an active co- crime scene, my training says we don't let the ... mark ... wander off by themselves." He gave what he hoped was a conciliatory smile and shrugged, to make the lasgun on his back shift from side to side.

[LeSwordfish]

Library

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Cassandra smiled very briefly at Llewelyn, and turned back to her book of portraits. Olivier raised an eyebrow.

"The "mark"." He was still smiling, just about. "I'm afraid I'm not aware of the terminology here. Am I a suspect?"

[Thragka]

The Library

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"Nosir!" Llewelyn went stiff as a board. "The target, sir, of foul play or enemy action. The objective, in military terms." He remained rigid as thoughts raced through his head. Up to this point, he'd discounted the baron himself as a suspect, if his murder idea even held water - but if the cell were to treat that possibility seriously, he realised, Olivier would have to be near the top of their list of suspects ...

[LeSwordfish]

The Library

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Olivier thought about it for a moment, and sighed. "I considered the possibility that I was a potential target. It's a rather different matter when it comes from someone else though."

"I'll get the family guards to keep watch outside my room tonight. In future, i'll ensure that I'm escorted either by them or by yourselves at all times." He sighed. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. The damn Scourges couldn't find their arses with both hands and each other's help."

[Thragka]

The Library

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A civvie being properly paranoid and expecting the worst? This was something of a pleasant surprise. Llewelyn tried not to let that show on his face, although he couldn't help nodding quickly in appreciation. "As I said, my Lord, that's the way we're trained. Take all necessary precautions. On that note ..." Llewelyn pursed his lips in thought. "As an outsider I do not mean to disparage the ability, or loyalty, of your guards, but I would encourage you to select them carefully. My Lord."

[Perius]

"Speculation?" Maria raises an eyebrow. "The paterfamilias of a great House has departed, and whilst appropriate care is being taken with the inquest, there is no speculation I am aware of." She smiles, with real warmth. "I wouldn't read too much into Olivier's decision to invite us. In many places, it is virtually protocol to involve experts additional to local medicae when a great man has passed. We've only been invited here just in case."

As the conversation moves on, Maria falls back to the food, tucking in with gusto. It's several minutes before she realises that most of her fellows have disappeared. Cassandra and Olivier too seem to be missing, so, making her excuses, Maria slips out, setting off for the library.

[LeSwordfish]

Carys seemed to pay particular attention to Maria's words, as if hoping to quote them verbatim later, but they clearly satisfied her. "Well, clearly i'm mistaken. I look forward to your results."

She smiled again and turned back to De Pfeiffel, leaving Maria to wonder what she meant by that.

The Library

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Olivier seemed to think on that for a moment- Cassandra looked up again, glancing over Llewelyn's shoulder as Maria entered, via the same servant's route Llewelyn had taken. She gave Maria an even longer, harder look before turning back to Olivier. "You should choose who you trust very carefully. Anyone you trust. Not just the Scourges." Her voice was surprisingly mellifluous, but the undertone was hard to miss. She shot another dark look at the two acolytes before standing, gathering the book of portraiture to her chest. "More blood will be spilled before this is done... and these people stink of it."

And with that she turned and started striding away towards the door. Olivier turned to follow her, appalled. "Cassandra! You can't speak like that!"

When they headed to the rooms that had been set aside for them, they found a trio of neat bedrooms with connecting doors between them, and views down over the stables and the statue of the astartes. The rooms weren't as opulent as the rest of the house, but they were comfortable and expensively furnished-testing out the mattress, Halt found it to be goose-down, and deep enough to swim in.

OOC: Library people, feel free to timesplit- nothing significant is going to change, there's no gribblies to jump out of the walls at you. They don't need to.

[Thragka]

The Library

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"She speaks sense, my Lord," said Llewelyn coolly. "From her perspective, we've done nothing that proves we're trustworthy. Disagree with the tone, or the details, but I would echo her message. My Lord," he finished, lowering his gaze, hoping he hadn't overstepped his boundaries.

He nodded to Maria in camaraderie.

~

The rooms

In the assembled bedrooms, Llewelyn snapped off an extremely cathartic salute for the rest of the cell. He gave a coprophagic grin. "Officer Cadet Llewelyn Drusian, formally and formerly of the Guard. General combat and ordnance expertise, you might say. And I can read and drive."

[Ionbound]

Caelica sits down on one of the beds and says, "Caelica Noness. Psyker, for what good it does me."

[Thragka]

Llewelyn's eyebrows nearly jumped off his face. A spate of uncontrollable blinking ensued as he struggled to keep his expression in check. "Right," he said by way of acknowledgement.

[Perius]

Library

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Maria tries to stifle her surprise over Cassandra's rushed departure. I hope it wasn't anything I did. It's a shame - she'd wanted to get a look at Cassandra's portraits - but at least nothing untoward had occurred. No gribblies amongst the bookshelves.

"In the end, trust in the Emperor and He alone," she murmurs, returning Llewellyn's nod like for like. "Is there something wrong?"

Rooms

Maria pokes her head around the door from the neighbouring room. "A psyker?" she asks. "Any good with mind-reading? There's something Cassandra said about me 'stinking with blood', I'd be curious to find out if she has the Talent.

"I'm Maria Lusana," she adds, her face serious. "Imperial missionary. I take confessions and help the guilty along the road to absolution - although, to be honest, I've been doing it mostly from a cell for the last decade. All this... finery is a bit new to me."

[LeSwordfish]

Library

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"Cassandra has always been a little odd." Olivier said, fuming. Behind him, the main doors to the library slammed. "She's never usually this rude, though. Please don't take it personally." He seemed more than a little embarrassed by his half-sister's actions.

[Thragka]

The Library

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"Sir. These are difficult times for your family. We won't be easily offended."

OOC: Ready to leave the Library and rejoin the others, but will wait for Maria.

~

"Interesting bunch, these Constantines, hmm?" Llewelyn said conversationally. "I mean, typical aristos, really. A few hot heads we might have to navigate around. So!" He clapped his hands and rubbed them together in enthusiasm. "Thoughts on the case? Did you get a look at the stiff?" he asked Caelica.

[Vexing]

Without ceremony, Halt shifted a good foot or so along his bed to add crucial distance between himself and Caelica. Rude, yes, but ultimately practical. "Hmph. Priest, guard, witch, executioner and quill-pusher. And our quiet friend from the shuttle, with the respirator grille." Raising his eyes to look over the rest of the assembled group, his next words caught in his throat as he fully processed Llewelyn's question, as if something noxious had wandered into his mouth. "The 'stiff'? Wait. You've already examined the corpse?!"

[Ionbound]

Caelica glares at Halt and says, "Why yes, I did. We actually have a life, before the black ships come, and I was a medic." She sighs, shaking her head, and continues, "Sadly, however, short of a few autopsy wounds that seem to have somehow bled, I wasn't able to find anything. Though, it seems likely that the late Baron was paralyzed, then died during his autopsy, seeing as bleeding is a definite sign of life, or recent death."

[Thragka]

Llewelyn cocked an eyebrow. "Then our dear Olivier was correct - 'murder most foul'," he said, smug. "Sloppy job, leaving visible wounds. Kind of instantly rumbles the cover story. I think we'll be paying the good doctor a visit in the morning."

[Vexing]

The adept's expression couldn't have been a whit more shocked than if Caelica, or the room at large, had admitted to carnal knowledge of a bull grox. "I--why didn't you consult the group? Why--Never mind that, I'll ask later. How much did you disturb the body? Did you have anyone on hand to take notes, a pict-capture, anything?" Putting his face in his hands to take a deep breath, Halt tried to master himself again. "...How long ago was this?"

"Depending upon where they did the autopsy, or how quickly after his death, it's likely that a little bleeding could be expected. Ultimately, while uncommon, we'd need a proper look before calling it evidence."

[Cilvyn]

Arue

Risky and gruesome way to kill someone, but interresting

Arue sits on the bed in her sleepingdress feeling a little awkward being here with everyone here in their normal clothes, jsut when she tried to escape social interactions for the rest of the evening.

I didn't discover anything yet. i only spoke with Reginald and master Gideon, very uh... charming man and Reginald is also very friendly. They don't seem to be affraid or feel guilty. If they are hiding something they do it well, but then again I am not that great with people...

She strokes her chin and bite the nail of her thumb waiting for the others to say something.

[Perius]

Library

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Maria nods in agreement.

"I hear I was similar after my father passed on. We won't take up any more of your time, my lord."

OOC: Happy to go

Rooms

Maria pales slightly as Caelica describes the method. "That's... foul. Whoever did this - it's not a clean way to kill someone." Words fail her as she speaks in fits and starts. "They must have - the murderer must have really hated the old man - of all the ways, to kill him - alive and hurting and unable even to scream!"

She shudders, the question about Caelica's ability to detect taint in Cassandra unanswered and forgotten.

[Ionbound]

Caelica frowns and says, "I just got back when we were sent to our rooms. And I simply examined it. I didn't even touch the corpse. Perhaps if I had more time and the young Baron's blessing I could conduct a more thorough examination, but it felt prudent to simply see what I could find without disturbing the body." She then nods to Maria and says, "Indeed...Whoever did this wanted the Baron to suffer as much as possible before he died...This feels personal. Much more personal than a simple power grab."

[Perius]

Library

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Maria nods in agreement.

"I hear I was similar after my father passed on. We won't take up any more of your time, my lord."

OOC: Happy to go

Rooms

Maria pales slightly as Caelica describes the method. "That's... foul. Whoever did this - it's not a clean way to kill someone." Words fail her as she speaks in fits and starts. "They must have - the murderer must have really hated the old man - of all the ways, to kill him - alive and hurting and unable even to scream!"

She shudders, the question about Caelica's ability to detect taint in Cassandra unanswered and forgotten.