WEEK 3 | THURSDAY EVENING

[lienhearts]

[It's quite some time after all is said and done that Kevin encounters Leo. His posture is lax, a cigarette in his mouth - he's been smoking a lot more since last week, and apparently now is the time for it again. His expression isn't terribly surprised, not that he often looks it anyway, with all the death and murder they've seen in these few weeks already.

Red eyes lock onto Kevin, and his steps slow. Looks like the priest is especially popular with people today.]

Hey. I heard about what happened.

[Naturally.]

Comments

[lienhearts]

[Code named, huh...

His eyes narrow very, very slightly as he listens, but he smooths it back to the easy expression from before. It's not hard to get; the church had decided who was worthy of life and who wasn't, and employed assassins to deal with them accordingly.

There's no way for Leo to know what exactly would constitute a heretic to them, naturally. But given the cynical, paranoid sort he is, his opinion certainly isn't high, that's for sure.]

Chosen how?

[And perhaps more importantly: why?]

[gralsritter]

[Kevin doesn't blame him for narrowing those eyes. He could have potentially made an enemy since he pretty much admitted his job is to take out criminals. Though here? It's probably more complicated than that. And it's not like they take out anyone who they deem a criminal. It's usually the big wigs that even the military and Guild can't take out.

But he's come this far. May as well fess up.]

If we end up manifestin' a Stigma, we're automatically invited to the Dominion. Really, there ain't no turnin' them down since it's not a power the Church wants out of control.

[He looks down at the hands.]

Luckily, I can't use it here, but my power is the Demon Spear Loa. I can summon dozens spears as projectiles. It's a truly terrifyin' power. I hate it.

[Right now feels like a reverse confessional...]

[lienhearts]

[Stigma, huh...]

Not a very nice name, is it.

[There's still many blanks, and that can't be helped. This happens frequently whenever people here start getting into the details of their worlds, he's found. But he can still get the gist of it.

Although now he's obligated to ask...]

Have there ever been people with powers like that who didn't get rounded up by the church first?

[gralsritter]

No. Never. Dominion can sense one another and that includes people who're gonna manifest a Stigma.

[He knows that's why the church likely took him in. It was easier to keep him under their surveillance for whenever his Stigma was going to manifest. They probably were even overjoyed when he sincerely wanted to join the Gralsritter.]

So, there's no escape.

[lienhearts]

[Hn.]

So you're screwed either way.

[Well, that's not really unexpected, either. And with powers like that, it could be just as bad the other way around - without anyone to round them up, there would be those who remained cared for, but also those who could be exploited, or who could exploit their powers on their own.

At this point, it's incredibly easy to view Kevin along the same lines as one of the dragons of his world. Possessing a useful, stigmatized power and paying for it with the attention he catches as a result.]

So, what are the crimes of the people you usually assassinate?

[This is the other important part, for reasons that should be obvious enough.]

[gralsritter]

The last guy I took out betrayed the church and stole some sacraments. He ended up doing experimentation on a child by creating a false Stigma within him and conditioned him to be an assassin. Mind control too. And to get that child, and his caretaker, to join his organization he ended up destroyin' an entire city. It ended up startin' a war, and well, yeah.

All of it was started by one twisted man. So my job was to take him out. There are others like him too. Poeple who perform satanistic rituals, though who we can't save from said rituals, more former clergymen who betray the church and turn to criminal ways. I take 'em out.

[So he takes out some criminal big wigs, basically.]

[lienhearts]

[Much bigger fry than a simple conman, that's for sure. Alright, he can accept that.]

The big cases, then. Guess it makes sense that they wouldn't waste your powers on the small stuff.

[--Though that would be another concern all of its own. Actually:]

And what Hazama did... would you normally get involved with that kind of thing?

[gralsritter]

Mass murder? He could, but this is also about protectin' everyone.

[And since he has no problem dirtying his hands, he doesn't see it as an issue, really.]

[lienhearts]

[Fair enough. Leo gives a small shrug.]

Well-- not that I care what happens to him, personally. As long as he can't kill or get any of us killed, I'm fine with that.

[So basically, if he'd been there, he wouldn't have been all that opposed to really locking the guy up and letting him die either.]

'Course, a lot of the more heroic types probably wouldn't agree. But it looks like you get how these things go.

[gralsritter]

Yeah, that seems to have been the discussion.

[Or people hiding their true intentions. Either or, Kevin was not agreed with in terms of locking people in a room and allowing them to die.]

[lienhearts]

In a situation like this, people are gonna try even harder to look clean.

[As Kevin should know.]

Hard to say how much of it's a lie and how much is just wishful thinking.