[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/necCR92.png[/img][/center][hr][sub][color=darkorange]Location:[/color] Guard Tower[/sub][hr][hr]

[color=fa8072]“Oi, Azkona! You can’t –”[/color]

[color=darkorange]“Piss off, Tav.”[/color]

Frantic activity filled Dawnhaven, triggered by the tolling of the bell. The guards were buzzing around like flies over rotting meat. Citizens scurried through the streets, eager to find refuge, or else a big bad blight-born would huff and puff and blow them all away like crumbs. They were [i]acting[/i] like crumbs. 

Elio stalked his way through the streets, his path steady, his mind working. His conversation with the blighted girl played again in his ears, her words, the bits of the timeline he’d pieced together, [i]Aliseth’s lies[/i]. He knew he couldn’t just take the girl’s words at face value, but he couldn’t just write it off, either. She’d given too much detail. And while it was still possible she’d used some kind of psychic magic to grab information, Elio just couldn’t see her as a threat yet. Not when a guard hated her so obviously, and the town was on such high alert. If she had proven to be suspicious in any way, she would’ve already been dealt with. 

So where to go now? Secondhand information and suspicions were only so much to go on, and he wanted answers. He wanted [i]action,[/i] now that he’d gotten a whiff of something brewing. The buzzing energy in the air pushed him forward. 

Fuck Aliseth and his [i]Moon Temple[/i] tip. Elio had half a mind to go check it out anyway, but the rage he felt when he’d learned Aliseth had lied about Zeph’s death still simmered in his blood. Trying to find this crime scene was another option, but one that would probably prove to be more trouble than it was worth. It’d likely be cordoned off by now, covered in guards trying to do damage control. It was one thing to blow off a passing guard’s orders to take shelter. It’d be another to try and muscle his way into an active crime scene. 

The promise of a challenge almost made him want to try it. 

But without the Moon Temple or the crime scene as options, Elio’s next thought was to go find Zeph. Verify that the little prat was [i]alive,[/i] see what he knew, get into some trouble figuring out what all this mess was. Zeph would be game. He loved trouble. 

A few quick brushes with guards verified that [i]someone[/i] had seen him alive recently [i]([color=darkorange]I’m gonna snap Kain in half.[/color])[/i] and someone [i]else[/i] was pretty sure he and his new partner were scheduled for a rotation at the guard tower near the alchemy chambers. The tower loomed in the distance, growing taller and taller as Elio approached. The top glowed with the warm light of a fire, smoke drifting into the winter air. 

He didn’t bother knocking. Elio let himself in, took the steps two at a time, emerging into the open top of the guard tower with its roof supported only by four wooden posts to find…

No Zeph. Just a single guard. Asleep. 

[i][color=darkorange]Fuckin’ amateurs.[/color][/i]

It really was impressive how consistently shit they were proving to be. 

She was young. Clearly freezing, based on the way she huddled herself under her cloak, her nose and cheeks pink. Dark strands of hair tangled themselves around her face, and the sun had speckled her tanned skin. 

Her eyes darted beneath their lids. Elio watched the way her eyebrows scrunched together ever so slightly, the way her body pulled in on itself under the fabric of her cloak as she started to wake herself. Crossing his arms, he took the moment to lean against one of the tower’s wooden posts. 

The guard snapped awake. It was like she’d been dunked in water, the way she gasped and scrambled upright. Her eyes flew open, a blue so colorless they were nearly grey.

A dark eyebrow raised. The corner of his mouth quirked up in a dry smirk.

[color=darkorange]“Morning, sunshine.”[/color] Elio’s voice was bright and cheerful as he watched the guard sputter and reorient herself. No wonder the town’s security was absolute shit. At least this one was something to look at, even if her incompetence was [i]pissing him off[/i]. [color=darkorange]“I take it you haven’t seen a Zephyros Hale recently, then?”[/color] His smirk grew. [color=darkorange]“Not even in your dreams?”[/color] Elio took a moment to examine the guard tower, looking over his shoulder at the streets below, as if he were only now considering its purpose. [color=darkorange]“Shame,”[/color] he said, turning his attention back to the guard. [color=darkorange]“Bet you could’ve seen plenty, this high up.”[/color]

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[sub][color=darkorange]Interactions:[/color] Charlotte Hawthorne [@SpicyMeatball][/sub]