WEEK ZERO EXECUTION

[grigori]

week zero: execution murder of crows

Hopefully you got a long night of sleep? Barring that, you got whatever answers, or closure, you might have needed. Because it's strangely quiet, the following Sunday morning. Moreso than Cittàgazze typically is. There's something almost oppressive hanging over the city, but it's a bright, clear, Mediterranean day.

Breaking the silence, somewhere, much like the song of Friday, there is the echoing, cruel laughter of voices you should faintly recognize throughout the city. It's followed by humming of that newly familiar song. It's strongest, interestingly, close to the courtyard.

As the clocks of the city strike 1 PM, though, there is a change as the voices fade. While there's no compulsion to investigate it, there's a small gathering in the courtyard. Your three Watchers are here with their daemons, and so are... Qi Rong, and his daemon, front and center of the square. All damages and evidence, anything amiss from the weekend, is all gone, and replaced with the state of the courtyard from the week prior.

Nearby, Baraqiel's daemon is pacing along the edge of the courtyard in tiger form, as if on guard duty. Baraqiel themself is simply keeping an eye on Qi Rong, holding him with one hand around both wrists behind his back, ignoring him otherwise as he rants at the three of them. Gripping hard on their hood and pulling over their face, Shamsiel stands there in relative silence while a small bird circles above their head chirping anxiously. Suriel's daemon is nowhere to be seen, though their hood does shift oddly as they look on, hands clasped before them as if to offer a prayer. The three appear to be having a hushed conversation, in the meantime, but a hurried one, glancing around occasionally or checking on Qi Rong and Xiao Jing. Are they waiting for something..?

And then, another party will be compelled to join them. Xie Lian will find that his feet are carrying him to his destination, San Lang keeping pace with him as they make their way down the streets of Cigazze. Once he passes through the centermost area of the courtyard, past where Suriel and Shamsiel stand, he'll find that he can't go back, and neither can his daemon. Baraqiel and their daemon are unceremoniously expelled from the heart of the courtyard, away from Qi Rong, skidding as they catch themselves, the other two Celestials stabilizing their companion and looking shocked.

Likewise, no one can enter the courtyard further than where the three Watchers stand. There will be no interfering from outside parties, no matter what it is that's about to happen. Any attempts to do so will result in them meeting an invisible barrier, one that rebuffs them with the same amount of force used against it—so take care.

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Comments

[yueshen]

Everyone - [ xie lian raises his voice, now, louder, steady, eyes up on the spectres - he's talking to the crowd beyond them. ] Don't worry about me. Go - get out of here, get as far away from here as you possibly can. All of you.

[ because if this ends - if one of them dies right now, what will happen? will the barriers disappear? will these creatures launch themselves at everyone else? a rock and a hard place, a decision on a decision. kill qi rong and complete this task as required - kill his cousin, who took the life of someone else, who deserves it to say the least - and release the spectres? allow the spectres to consume - them? is that what they'll do? (if he looks up too long, the spectres could almost be fluttering, long sleeves in the wind, in a city burning to ashes - they could form the face of of a mask, half smiling, half crying - )

the dread crushes down on xie lian. harder. it presses, pushes - a spectre writhes over xie lian's head - and the words of the white no face start to echo in his head like the siren songs of before. xian le, xian le. you're going to lose. a spectre curls around his waist like an old friend, over the bleeding wound at his chest, down, down, towards san lang. san lang gets lower to the ground, too, curling closer to xie lian's legs, as if he could avoid the touch of the creatures. again.

it's going to happen again. he's going to --

the clatter of the metal hitting the cobblestones strikes through his thoughts.

no.

as the spectres start to grab onto his shoulders and latch on, xie lian pushes back. he fights it, fights the feeling that he's going to be drained dry, that everything is hopeless, because it's not, it's not it's not. not again, xie lian thinks, almost venomously, stubbornly, and he swings his sword in an upwards arc as he whirls around with a shout, a bright beacon of white and silver in a cloud of inky black gray, sending the spectres that are attaching to him scattering back. not again. ]

Go! [ this time, he yells it, and lifts his blade towards qi rong. ] Snap out of it!

[stinky]

[qi rong doesn't respond to the shout, or to the raised sword, or even to the spectres swirling around them, swooping down, drawing ever closer and closer.

he doesn't spit or curse or scream.

he just stands there, motionless. his expression is blank and his eyes are glassy, and he doesn't seem to be responding to much of anything. like this, he looks more like a ghost than he ever has - devoid of any of the fire and rage and resentment that has fueled him for the last eight hundred years.]

[yueshen]

[ for a moment, xie lian doesn't see qi rong, as he shakes the spectres free.

he sees xiao jing, instead, the little prince. loud. obnoxious. cruel. but sometimes - there were moments where he could have been something else. a child on a swing, a shared meal with his mother nearby, ruffling xiao jing's hair. where things could have been different. eight hundred years have passed, unbeknownst to xie lian, and he's seen the way that they have twisted an already cruel person into a resentful, venomous wreck, a foul-mouthed and furious wrath level ghost, who has committed horrific crimes.

caught between this rock and a hard place, xie lian pauses, for a moment, still bleeding down his front, eyes a little wide, breathing hard.

another spectre swoops in, near his ear. it sounds like familiar laughter. you're going to lose!

for a moment, it feels like time stops. qi rong is miserable. perhaps the spectres draining him like this, motionless and silent, has changed him into the person he really was all along.

he takes a breath, just long enough, and closes his eyes. ]

I'm sorry.

[ sorry for what happened to xian le. sorry, that he failed the prince xiao jing at the start. sorry, that this is what qi rong has become. that he let this happen. that he didn't do more. that he couldn't help him even now, when he's at his least deserving - qi rong is vile and cruel and heartless, but his life is still alife. he's sorry, that things have turned out this way, even if sorry means nothing.

xie lian opens his eyes, and with one graceful swing, he changes his grip on the sword, and drives the point up into qi rong's heart.

perhaps, if nothing else, xie lian can offer the mercy that qi rong never afforded anyone else. ]

REMEMBER -

[grigori]

remember
and dust you shall become in the end

 

 

Time continues to pass. The spectres begin to descend again, dread pressing down on Xie Lian. The barrier falls in a glimmer of Dust.

But the Watchers step forward in unison as the barrier falls, the same as they had with the verdict against Qi Rong. With their presence and a sheen of light and Dust, before the uninvited participants can weave amongst the crowd gathered, the spectres are forced to disperse from the courtyard. Their reactions after the light fades vary - with Shamsiel's seemingly unfocused and distant, Baraqiel's cold fury, Suriel's quiet dismay, but it's clear to them that this is the end.

Qi Rong falls by his cousin's mercy, vacant even before he hits the ground, before the sword takes his life, and Xiao Jing shimmers into golden Dust, fading on the wind. The meat hook and sword both disappear much like the knife had after they were chosen, and it seems like nothing will be left behind.

And that includes the executed, Qi Rong's body turning to Dust much like his daemon - and then there's nothing left.

Qi Rong is dead.

The laughter from before returns, echoing, before the unknown but newly familiar voices turn to song again:

An innocent killed on but a whim,
A gruesome sight to see, most grim.
This one refused to take the blame,
But cousin ends the family shame.
And now he pays for his crime -
A type of justice most divine.

After the Dust clears, and the song ends with more of that laughter, the Watchers will disappear in a shift of space around them. Xie Lian and San Lang are left alone in the heart of the courtyard.

[yueshen]

[ idk man my cousin just turned to dust that's rough buddy

xie lian is still bleeding down his front when the light and the dust all clear, the sword vanishing from xie lian's hand - and all he does is drop to his knees, san lang shifting immediately from qilin to tiny ferret.

ow. ]

[allyship]

[rochalizo is running over.]

Xie Lian! [he glances back over to everyone else.] Does anyone have their medical supplies!?

[uncoincidental]

I have my bag with me, I haven't used any of it yet...!

[she's hurrying over and pulling her satchel off her shoulder to dig through it]

[voltadomar]

Good. We'll need that.

[uncoincidental]

Whatever we need, it's yours.

[allyship]

Good...

[kim seems to know what he's doing so if he wants to administer first aid rochalizo will let him]

[uncoincidental]

...he'll be okay.

[yueshen]

[ he doesn't respond, for a moment, gaze still sort of far away - rochalizo yells for the medical kit, finally, and he manages to shake himself free. ]

I - [ wait. ] -- I'm alright. [ he is bleeding

its fine probably ] They're all gone, the spectres? Could you all see them on the other side of the barrier? Ngh.

[allyship]

Yes. Don't worry—they disappeared when the Watchers approached.

[greatdeduction]

[Sholmes may be no doctor, but he is running up to him to bend down, worried, Irene in beagle form running after him. SIR YOUR TRAUMA.]

My dear fellow, let's get you out of here. To a place where you can rest and get treatment, yes?

[yueshen]

[ what trauma. he blinks, shaking himself free of staring at the spot where qi rong used to be. ]

I - oh. Mr. Sholmes... are you alright? [ sir ] I'm alright. It's - it's nothing. Thank you...

[voltadomar]

To the hotel. It's close and should have what we need.

[voltadomar]

We need to stop the bleeding.

[Kim's gotten over here in a hurry, too.]

Let me see. How bad is it?

[yueshen]

[ he is obedient, and will let kim see, reaching out to find san lang with his other hand. the cut isn't shallow, but it's not particularly deep either, slicing in a downwards arch across his chest. there's a wound in his shoulder, too, from where the hook dug in. ]

I've had worse... It's fine. Are you all okay? Is everyone alright?

[voltadomar]

Yes, everyone else is fine. The spectres are gone. For now.

Mr. Sholmes will help you to the hotel. Sheba has a first aid kit. I will treat your wounds, assuming no one else is qualified to do so.

Put pressure on it in the meantime. We will try to do this quickly.

[sponsoredby]

[ Also joining the crowd to offer some help here. He might not be any medical expert, but he's got some strength to him. ]

Just tell me what you need help with.

[ This is also in part directed to Kim and Sholmes, who are offering aid. ]

[yueshen]

[ oh... kotetsu gets a little smile, now that i'm assuming kim is bandaging him up. xie lian is very patient, holding very still, though he's holding tightly onto san lang. ]

Is everyone else alright? Thank you, Mr. Kotetsu...

[sponsoredby]

Physically? Yeah. I think a lot of people are shaken by what just happened.

[ shaken in different ways ]

[voltadomar]

Can you locate a needle and thread? That wound may require stitches.

[and mods said yes we can find them, so hooray]

[sponsoredby]

[ he nods at him ]

I'll get on that.

[ he's glad to have some task of use and any signs of his ache before are being ignored as he runs off with finley to find what's needed ]

[perspire]

[ also going to rush to his side, crouching down by his side. he pauses for a moment before reaching out with a hand to him ]

Is... Is there anything I can do for you?