hexarchate_rpg | Move 22 (Chapter 1.22)

[GM note: This is largely a maintenance move so that folks can continue threads from Move 21 without having to dig through a lot of comments.]

For easy reference:
- Move 21 recap (thanks to

zuhrovet) [wiki]
- the escape plan [wiki]
- Station Moongray Timeline [wiki]

Year 361, Month Three, Day Seventeen (Monday), ~07:90

Confrontation with the baby fox
From this thread:

Sulen moves towards Mikodez, eyes gleaming the brassy color of clock gears. "I think it's time for some truth, Mikodez."

On the Wasp, Ashari (NPC) welcomes the arrival of Sulen, who threatens Mikodez with scrying after Mikodez is recalcitrant about answering Sasha's questions about why he didn't call for help for Istradez (NPC). Iawa is on standby in case Mikodez needs to be sedated again.

The disposition of a magistrate-thief
From this thread:

“‘Belong’ would be an overstatement,” Virmad says, concealing his amusement. “But yes, we did — I was just about to check on him [Gerae].”

He inclines his head to Sulen. “I’ll see you later; good luck with the foxling.”

Then, to Alaric: “Has Gerae had any food? I did tell him before I left that I’d make sure he got something to eat.”

"It looked like someone fed him, yes," Alaric replies, "although I don't know about Fluffy. Dragon snacks might make the conversation go smoother."

Alaric has just informed Virmad as to Gerae's status, and is about to hand Gerae over to Virmad's care. Meanwhile, Yehan (NPC) comes to talk to Alaric about mothling care: she reports that the station is having the remaining mothlings delivered to the Bumblebee and they are due any moment.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I think we're getting off topic," Sulen says, a bit tightly.

Ashari makes a gesture of acknowledgment and tightens the enthrallment in order to get Mikodez back on track.

"Tell us about your siblings," Sasha directs Mishka. She wants some baseline information on how he feels about the Istradez in his own timeline.

"I have an elder sister Avradez, born some years before me..."

Without visible reluctance, Mikodez offers up a bloodless list of his siblings' biographical and educational history. Nothing that Sasha couldn't find, if she landed in his time.

Sasha glances cautiously at Ashari. They just made Mishka answer a question in an ordinary, straightforward fashion, which might be the most terrifying thing she's seen them do, yet.

"How do you feel about your sister Istradez, Mishka?" At least the gender difference makes it easy to keep the timelines straight.

"Is this relevant?" Sulen murmurs. "We just needed to know if he was a spy, and he is."

Everyone is entitled to their own feelings about family, and it's not Sulen's job to pry those feelings open any more.

Of course it's fucking relevant. Maybe Sulen isn't up on the fact everyone on this ship has at least four names? "Imsayed's name is Istradez, too," Sasha tells them.

Sulen frowns at her. "Yes, I'm aware. But we have the information we need. We don't need the details of something Imsayed might not wish us to know. We should simply lock this one up now, where he can't cause more harm."

"Let me put it this way: it's been years since I last met her."

Years can be anything above a single hexarchate cycle, right? And Mikodez had been away from home since entering Shuos Academy, so in truth, he's only had contact with Istradez on the many, many occasions when he needed to arrange for outside assitance on a school prank, or when she was working on her own school applications, or when he wanted to arrange a gift for their family on New Year's, or...

It's been a century and a bit since Sasha last saw Mirek, so that means exactly nothing. "What did our Istradez tell you, when he found you, on the station?"

"Well, after I tried to shoot him, he said he hadn't thought that I hated him to that extent. And I don't hate him," Mikodez adds, "just suspicious people who claim to be my family from the future."

"How did you decide you don't hate him?" Sasha asks. "And when?"

"Don't worry, I'm prepared to turn the hostility back on if this turns out to be a simulation, or if he's anything other than what he claims to be. Which is my sibling from the future."

Sasha looks at Sulen. This seems truthful, albeit wildly overconfident, but she'd like confirmation.

Sulen glares at her (and glares are really glaring when they're orange), but nods.

There are other questions they would ask, if this was a true interrogation, but the reason enthrallment usually isn't used in conjunction with scrying- apart from the fact that you'd never get the Andan and Rahal to cooperate well enough- is that it makes all questions about loyalty useless. Sulen wants to lock Mikodez up for now and come back to him later for a more in depth scrying, with Virmad and perhaps Gerae as additional focusing lenses.

"He's being truthful," they tell Sasha, "but his self assessment of his feelings and motivations won't be accurate while he's under enthrallment."

They look at Ashari, to check if maintaining the enthrallment is tiring them.

Edited 2018-08-10 13:02 (UTC)

There are faint lines of strain around Ashari's eyes. "Any last questions?" Ashari asks the others.

[Ashari will sustain enthrallment for one more follow-up question plus whatever time it takes to safely lock Mikodez up, then release it.]

Why in the eight hells were we supposed to keep you safe, Mishka? But that's not really a question for him. Sasha shakes her head.

[If neither

vass nor

venndaai has a question, I propose we pick up outside the room in a new thread, or a new move?]

[I can set up a new move either tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder!]

[Sounds good. Sorry for the silence, I have been so busy these last few weeks but I really want to get back to this!]

Move 22 (Chapter 1.22)

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thread gardening

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