RP:Hospitality & Hypotheses
Part of the The Cenrilian Connection Arc
Vailkrin Capitol Foyer
The crumbling castle which stood here has been rebuilt and refurbished and now serves as the Vailkrin state capitol building, despite remaining a formidable fortress. The entrance has been outfitted relatively modestly, a simple red runner leading the way north into the main room while the stone walls are left unadorned but for several flaming sconces, although a series of banners running down the hallway boldly pronounces a patriotic spirit, each flag bearing the black hand of Vailkrin. At the opposite end of the foyer a series of arches invites visitors to continue forward into the great hall or to turn into one of the wings of the castle.
Celiann , whilst being of nobility and having lived on the grand estate of House Ginavi, hadn’t lived in the finery of a castle before. Frankly, she quite enjoyed it. There was no greater luxury than to have people run about after you, to never have to raise a finger unless you were turning the page of a book which was precisely what Celiann had done, as well as attempt to keep an eye on the occurrences of the world; particularly the political sphere of Vailkrin. Whilst the seizure of property had gone underway at House Ginavi, Celiann did not anticipate a great result. No doubt, her House would have worked well to cover up whatever had gone afoot: her room would have been trashed, paperwork destroyed and all research into the void above Vailkrin was demolished. Even Celiann’s treasured wand had been snapped and, apparently, trampled upon. It would be far too dangerous to use. So, the necromancer lounged around, reading a paper quietly.
Kasyr has been rather busy of late, what with the current political climate in tandem with the recent rash of dilemmas contributing to more intrigue and iresome developments than he'd had to endure in some time. It was almost enough to make him long for some form of angry petition- were it not for the fact that the habitual trappings of his office -hadn't- relented during all this. There was, in fact, a sizeable backlog of documentation and dreary representatives to attend to - and it was all the revenant could do, to keep ahead of them when he had returned to the castle. The room Celiann occupies serves as a welcome refuge- if only because she was currently being treated as a guest of honour, the likes of which is to only be attended by a select few vassals from house Azakhaer, and Asharam. Thus, he takes a few moments to gather himself, before he gingerly knocks on the inside of the door he'd just stepped through, "Er, Bonjour."
Celiann did, occasionally, wonder how long her status as ‘guest of honour’ would last. It seemed unlikely that it would last forever, after all! “H-Hello, Kasyr,” she greets, letting the paper droop a little so she can peer over it to see his face. He looks as though he was wanting to get away, his running into her seems accidental. On a side-note, Celiann’s stammer has reduced somewhat, with thanks to the sanctuary and sense of security that Kasyr had offered her here. “You s-s-seem t-troubled,” a keen observation, no doubt.
Kasyr sets himself so he's leaning against the door, and effectively preventing it from being opened in case his attempts to sneak away were noticed- and then proceeds to just take a cigarette out from his pockets and plunk it to his lips, "More troubled than usual, tu mean." Despite himself, the revenant manages a brief smirk, before he simply shakes his hand, "Just balancing my current preoccupations with those of my habitual obligations. Nothing overly new, vraiment." With a slight sigh, Kasyr simply moves one of his hands over to the cigarette at his lips, casually snapping his fingers in an attempt to coax a flame into life. "So. Have you gotten a chance to look over the reports of the investigation, asofar? I had a few sent your way, but given the sheer amount of paperwork currently being ferried around, well, I'd not be surprised if they've been delayed."
Celiann , besides necromancy, was very good at paperwork. In fact, if she had never become a vampire or nurtured her morbid interest in the dead, she’d probably have become a secretary or a librarian; her love of paperwork ran that deep. The organisation of forms, ink, quill, parchment, it was just far too enjoyable for the half-elf. Something about it made her happy inside. With a vague wave of the hand, the cigarette sparks into life, smoke curling easily from the burning tip. “I h-have, yes,” she says, folding up her paper to put it aside. “It a-a-appears as though the c-c-confiscation of p-property isn’t going w-well. They’ve d-destroyed most of it or m-moved wealth around to g-g-give you less than what is a-actually m-mine,” she informed him. “I d-d-don’t mean offense,” she began, “b-b-but your p-paperwork is n-not well organised!” Celiann sounded absolutely astounded and appalled by this lack of organisation in regards to his paperwork. “K-Kasyr, th-th-th…” she pauses to try and conceal her growing frustration at her stammer, “th-things do n-not add up.”
Kasyr blinks for a second, less so from the surprise of his cigarette lighting, and more from the fact that someone actually spared him the effort. "Et bien, whilst some of it es my fault- a bit of culpability also rests with the last ruler of Vailkrin. Gingers' legacy lives on through the obnoxious obfuscation she exercised in all her arrangements. C'est un tas de merd...er. It's a hassle. A large one." That the revenant isn't particularily well-equipped to untangle. "What do you mean by things do not add up, exactement? Do you mean the matters at your house, or just the paperwork in general?" Really, Kasyr's still been trying to piece together the exact motive. At this point, he'd all but cemented that the Cenril church was likely involved- but who in Celianns house would risk aiding and abetting the church... unless. "...Madamoiselle. Did you perhaps have a rival. One who might have also want to see all out war erupt between Cenril et Vailkrin?"
Kasyr said to Kasyr, "..Maybe not a rival. Co-researcher...? Hrm."
Celiann rose from her seat at this point, caught up in the excitement of theory and possible answers to their predicament. “Y-Yes,” she frowned, “my h-h-house brother and I had a p-p-power s-struggle. Internal p-politics, you know,” she told him with a little wave of the hand. But then the woman shook her head, “B-But what d-does he gain in r-r-removing me?” The scholar paused again, as if further considering; every time she spoke her hands were in constant motion as if it somehow helped her to bring her thoughts to the forefront, to bring the words out. “H-House Mahara!” she yelled, as if jubilant, “Th-Th-They are the k-keepers of our s-s-secrets,” she told him, “s-s-so, they know t-things we would o-otherwise f-f-forget. A h-holy war is the p-perfect solution, K-Kasyr!” The woman was pacing, hands roving as she wandered about the room, “H-Have the p-p-priests k-k-kill your enemies or r-r-rival houses, t-take their r-resources and kn-knowledge, grow p-powerful enough to r-remove the t-threat of the c-church!” The woman looked at him with a near manic grin, “H-How did we n-n-not see that? W-War is p-p-p-p… p-p…” she is too excited to say it, it takes her a few tries, “p-profit!”
Kasyr frowns a touch, his eyebrows knitting together, "Keepers of things you might otherwise forget - so it would be fair to say that they would also peut-etre have copies of your notes? That was part of why I'd considered a house Rival or co-worker. They would have potentially had access to copy your works, then destroy them at their leisure. In either case, however, we're left with the distressing question of who amongst your house would be abetting them, considering they gained access to your things, et were able to have them..re-distributed." ..Really, how many people in a house -could- so easily orchestrate that kind of abrupt dissapearance. A member of a household being 'unpersoned', essentially. To no longer be acknowledged. "..Son of a."
Celiann , through her pacing, has gradually come closer to Kasyr. If she weren’t so shy, she’d have probably grasped his arms so she could properly express her excitement in coming along to this revelation of information. “House M-M-Mahara are one of the o-oldest, Kasyr, if y-y-your House fell, they’d b-be one of the f-f-first to c-claim power in V-Vailkrin,” she told him, assuming he knew as much but accepted her retelling for the sake of following this logical path. “Only L-Lady A-Alesha,” the head of House Ginavi, “c-c-could approve of w-w-what House M-Mahara r-received,” she told him, “s-so she’d have to have a h-h-hand in any of th-their plans relating to i-information, which is p-possible. She is f-female, A-Antoin is m-male. M-Merge their h-house if need be t-to protect one a-another from the f-f-fall out of this war,” she said more quietly. Then she hesitated, as if trying to use all her logical thinking all at once. “B-But h-how to c-c-communicate such things to p-priests of all people? They’d n-n-never associate with v-vampires in person at least,” she admitted, knowing full well that they’d both be aware of this fact. “Who is the m-m-middle man then?”
Kasyr has been bothered by that question for some time. Whilst the Cenrilian Church has muddied their hands with a fair number of unscrupulous tasks, their zealotry when it comes to the eradication of vampires is all but legendary. "Vassals, peut-etre? They do have servants amongst their household, oui? Maybe..hopefuls who desire to be turned." Eliminatable as a loose end, easily enough - and yet still plausibly recognizeable.. "..Hrm. There's something missing here.. Es there anything else that tu..might be remembering..." The revenant seems oddly distracted for some reason.
Celiann shook her head, “V-Vassals are e-easily r-r-recognised,” she told him, but he’d probably already know that. “They’d h-h-have something to d-denote them, you know that. M-Most houses like to l-lay a c-claim of some k-kind,” she muttered. “N-Not that I c-can think of. B-But I t-t-tell you, th-those c-c-c-c,” she pauses again, frustration evident in her face, “c-cultists g-get everywhere. S-Swore I h-heard them spouting their u-usual stuff.”
Kasyr takes in a long drag from his cigarette, before breathing out a thin trail of smoke- his eyes slowly following it's lazy drift towards the ceiling. "Yeah, they've been fairly active of late. Actually ended up getting tailed by one of their little murder troupes recently, while I was out on an errand." Sadly, he didn't end up finishing his trek to frostmaw, the cultist attack having served to provoke him into seeking out any more indications of their movement. "It was endearing, vraiment." The revenant continues to look distracted... troubled might be a better word. Why, though. He'd not been hunting them lately, as he'd been distracted. . . "..Vampire attacks in Cenril..." Unaffiliated to the main houses, it would have been traceable otherwise.. But. "..Maybe. Maybe I need to check something. In the meantime, I think I ought to havemy acquaintances in House Asharam keep tabs on Mahara... et peut-etre see if they've been making, or made an Undue amount of visits over the last few months." The revenant pauses there, before he simply adds, "I'll let you oversee the paper work related to that, Madamoiselle. Given that you have a profound distaste for the current system."
Celiann said to Kasyr, "I w-w-want to h-help and b-be of use. E-Earn my k-keep, you know. But I b-believe I will v-vastly improve y-your p-paperwork situation."
Kasyr gives Celiann a lock that is more puzzled than anything, before he simply shrugs, "Knock yourself out, en fait. Hell, I will -hire- you to go et try and untangle the trail of paperwork left behind by Ginger, and everything that's piled on since. We can even work out a proper contract, later." The revenant offers a lopsided shrug and a grin, though the latter is rather shortlived. "I...have some answers I need to get, however, Madamoiselle. It might be relevant." It might be nothing. But that hit squad, so soon after Varen. And the Nathali had apparently been trying to get a foothold in Cenril, according to Kyperion. Maybe, just maybe. "Er, do tell moi if anything get's brought up in a report, d'accord?"
Celiann said to Kasyr, "Of c-c-course. I will c-c-contact you if anything c-c-comes up."