⚔ 011; [video]

[croibhristeoir]

Fionn mac Cumhaill.

[His voice was completely steady, expression as resigned as one who awaited the fall of an executioner's blade. Diarmuid had reached his resolution, and this was all he had left to do.]

You and I need to settle things. Meet me outside the hotel tonight before sunset if you can. I'll be unarmed, and I would ask the same of you.

[Diarmuid would of course be waiting exactly where he said he'd be, in civilian clothes and wearing a new pair of glasses. He didn't need them, no. But as he'd mentioned to Issei, he preferred wearing them here--it was a symbol of the normal human life he'd accepted in this place.]

[He was calm and collected, at least visibly. Inwardly? He was terrified, and had no idea why.]

Three [Video/Action] That which does not kill us, makes us stranger.

[myblimpisbigger.livejournal.com]

[A video feed clicks on. It shows one of the Hotel's many rooms, and seems to be resting on the nightstand. Two figures are visible, one sitting on the edge of the bed and the other standing. The only difference between them is the standing figure's glowing yellow eyes. He also seems to be in the middle of a sentence.]

--turned it on. Now you can tell them the truth.

[The voice is likely one you recognize. It's deep, with a slight Romanian accent, but unlike usual it sounds as though it's been filtered through several synthesizers.]

I don't know what you mean.

Yes you do. [The yellow eyes flash.] Everything I know, I only know because somewhere, deep within that superior brain of yours, you know it as well.

[Is it possible for that voice to get even stranger? Apparently. This is what happens when you layer a Spark voice over a Shadow voice.]

But then, I wouldn't expect you to admit it. I wouldn't. Always had a problem with admitting things, didn't I? But do you know what I can admit? I never really cared. I never did enough. Why do you think I've spent the past few months hiding out in my laboratory rather than fighting during the Dark Hour? I don't care about these people, I can't be bothered to help--!

[It's over in a second. The seated man stands, making an attempt at a blow, and finds his hand easily parried.]

Skifandrian warrior training, remember? The warrior training I received in the four years I was away from the country, happily letting it burn in my absence, just like I let Prospero suffer ever night I'm not out there fighting?

That wasn't--

Wasn't my fault? I could have left any time I chose. [It's unclear whether he's talking about the lab or Skifander. Probably both.] And you know very well why I didn't. I let myself get distracted by a woman.

I didn't know--

I knew very well what was going to happen. I knew what I could expect when I went back, having left Lucrezia unguarded in the hands of a man who never believed me when I told him what I knew she was capable of. And while we're on the subject of Lucrezia and Bill, I wonder why it never occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, he never believed me because I was sleeping with his lover.

Or perhaps that's another thing I simply cannot admit. It was all for a good cause, wasn't it? Keep her distracted. Keep her safe. I never really believed Bill deserved her when he couldn't even curb her tendencies. But he was the hero. Of course he got the girl. I suppose I don't need to tell you of the things jealousy can make a man do to those he only pretends to care for?

[WHAM. The feed cuts out, the phone knocked off the bedside table thanks to the yellow-eyed shadow being slammed into it. Everyone on the first floor of the Hotel probably heard that crash; those closer to room 106 will probably feel it as well, as well as the several that follow. The phone is actually broken (as in, the back opened and the battery is about five feet away from it), so replies should probably be in action format.]