Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-25389303-20191221164519/@comment-5999656-20191230052722

Zan listened intently as Diaboli spoke, clasping and unclasping her fingers softly as he exposed his gruesome wound and reiterated his revulsion for the Bluthardts. The utter conviction with which he spoke stuck out to her more than the specifics of his words. In fact, the general lack of specificity in Diaboli's description told her that there had to be more to it than what he'd just said.

Alyxia had told her of the events that transpired on the boat. She had told Zanipher of the squid Grimm, and the face-off with the Bluthardt ship. And so Zanipher knew that the terrible injury Diaboli displayed to her was not caused by them. Therefore, it wasn't so much what the Bluthardts had actually done, but their presence which unnerved Diaboli, she surmised. As someone who too had borne witness to the wanton destruction the Bluthardt family and their children left so easily in the wake, that reaction was to be expected, Zanipher thought. And perhaps all this mention of violence that had occurred between today and their last meeting had left Diaboli a changed man.

"I believe what you're saying..." she said slowly, finally looking back up at Diaboli's face. "A wealthy family which has already cannibalized so many others would be quick to do so again."

She fell silent for a long moment, pondering whether or not to say the immediate thought on her mind.

"The Dragons have removed one of their own before, you know. Lopped off a Head and replaced it with another. The incident isn't one you'd be familiar with, though..."

Zanipher mulled Diaboli's hints over in her head, and bit her lip.

"There's something that doesn't sit right with me, though. Say the Dragons cut out the Bluthardts from the network entirely, and label them our enemies. You would be free to pursue them as you wish without the Dragons interfering. You said you wanted to give the people of Mistral a better future."

Zan glanced up, and fixed Diaboli with a piercing stare.

"My honest concern is this. Many Dragon allies have criminal operations in Mistral, myself included. Why would you not come after the rest of us next?"