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[markingnight]

"If there's more work to be done, so be it. As ever, we forge on."
Art by @Snppd_c

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the murmur. a week or so after The Fruit Incident.

[inverseye]

[ One fall afternoon, Saheon will take a stroll near one of Ironeye's haunts. He'll pause outside the building with the rooftop garden and putting his hands to his mouth, shout into the murmur. ]

Sir! I've tested the fruits. Aren't you interested to hear my results?

Re: the murmur. a week or so after The Fruit Incident.

[markingnight]

[ There was no answer, or at least no immediate one. Perhaps no one was even in the area? It was a week later, after all.

Yet from the rooftop, a strong odor of rot and damp fungal earth could occasionally be detected, should the wind blow true. ]

[inverseye]

[ Well... That's not very inviting. If only Sahon had the Blessing of Grace™ to help better locate his goal...

Saheon is usually quite cautious, but it's not as if the roof was inescapable. As long as he was careful...

He'll be very slow about it, but he does slowly make his way up to the roof again, throwing the occasional mental ping in the Murmur to where Ironeye should be.]

Sir sir sir sir siiiiiir.

cw: dead/diseased/mutant animals, predation, rot

[markingnight]

[ Splintered trees, uprooted earth, broken arrowshafts... and dark streaks of maroon that had long since soaked into the tiled roof. In the center of the destruction, some unidentified beast lay in a wild splay of matted hair and too many tusks. Or at least what was left of the beast after a week of exposure to the elements.

Great creatures faintly reminiscent of crows were picking at the remains with toothed-riddled beaks clearly serrated for more efficient slicing. A few of their own number were also apparently part of the repast; the creatures seemed to take no issue with picking at their former fellows, too.

The stench was unimaginable. ]

[ Over the Murmur, there was a sigh. ]

What is it, Baek Saheon?

[ One of the carrion birds turned its attention upon the intruder, watching. ]

[inverseye]

[ Saheon and the bird hold eachothers eyes for a moment...scavenger to scavenger. Then he takes a step back and the door is quickly slammed shut. Saheon turns on his heel and immediately starts heading back the way he came. No. None of that today. ]

Leave it to me to be the bearer of bad news, sir. Your garden has pests.

[ If there was anything left of those fruit trees anyways. Saheon hops the railing of the emergency stairs to drop down another few levels.]

After all that work I put in with the animal testing too. The agent's gonna be sad he ate all that fruit for nothing.

[markingnight]

Garden?

[ There was a pause ]

Don't tell me you went back to the roof. After all that? [ And experimenting on good-hearted people, too, how shameless...... ]

[inverseye]

Of course not, sir! What an absurd suggestion.

[ Saheon drops down another flight of stairs, and thinking better of staying in one place, cuts across the building to take a different path down. He'll be out of here soon, it'll be like Saheon was never here! ]

Just happened to pass by and see something, you know? I was keeping my end of our bargain, as a good employee should!

[markingnight]

[ Open skepticism bled out into the ether. The Ironeye did not accept this answer, it seemed. ]

[ There seemed to come the noise of fluttering wings outside the building. From the roof? Someplace lower? The scrabble of scaled feet, the scratch of long talons... it was probably nothing. ]

Why does the hart seek out the hunter?

[inverseye]

[ It's probably nothing... Saheon slows down, keeping away from windows as he descends. Should only be another few floors now. ]

Am I being hunted?

[ Actually, he doesn't want the answer to that. He'll be fine. Just needs to get out of here quickly. Him and his "heart" or whatever Ironeye called him. ]

Your not sore I left, are you? I didn't promise to help with that.

[markingnight]

Are you?

[ Unfortunate, if true. But perhaps Saheon had simply not understood the question. ]

You saw what was on the rooftop. Then, why contact me?

[inverseye]

[ No. Yes. ]

I'll get back to you.

[ Because it's fine and he'll survive this stupid bird... ]

Sir. Sir..! I'm a nice guy, you know? I had news for you! Two of the fruits you had me test were edible. I wanted to get more.

[ One of them was better when cooked, the other better raw, but the third was so toxic it made poor Agent Choi sick even when Saheon boiled it. Very sad. ]

[markingnight]

And the last, I assume, was reserved for Agent Choi.

[ Poor guy. But this did answer his question. Though he at least put on a show of fearing those exposed to his Darkness, this man had been relatively unbothered by the carnage. And, for some reason, its ultimate cause. Did he get some kind of bizarre thrill out of this cycle of courting danger and running? And if so, was it more the former, or the latter?

...Truly, one must imagine Baek Saheon happy. ]

I should give him a call to check on him.

[inverseye]

Why not? He's volunteered.

[ He's... fine... ]

Count yourself lucky you ate one of the good ones, sir.

[markingnight]

[ Nope! Still going to check on Choi! If he was still in the condition to be checked on. But also: ]

Were you not on the run? If your aim was to make a bargain, you ought present your offer quickly.

[inverseye]

I'm fine!

[ Less talking about his danger, more talking about the #deals. ]

You've got such a lousy opinion of me, sir. This is just me keeping my promise to test something for you. Can't a cheapskate like you at least tell me I did a good job?

I thought I replied to this...

[markingnight]

If you want praise, consider simply delivering your half of the bargains you make. Perhaps even in the correct order.

[ He... still wasn't hearing any deals... Maybe there weren't any. ]

noooooooo

[inverseye]

[ He wants praise! He wants praise! ]

Two good! One bad! The bad one was the red one! That's what you asked me to find out, and I'm telling you!

[markingnight]

I asked for no such thing. [ That was all you, Saheon. ]

And even if I had, you'd have the information to me a week too late. Can't say I have much faith in your ability to deliver.

[inverseye]

Whatever, sir. I told you I'd do it, and I kept my word.

[ Which makes him better then 99.9% of people he's ever met <- delusion ]

I'll keep the feedback about timing in mind for my quarterly review. [ Choi you're eating that fruit faster next time. ]

[markingnight]

The word of a coward has less meaning than the bleating of sheep.

Farewell.

[ 👋 ]

[inverseye]

Baaaa.

[ But he vanishes from the Murmur after that. Bye! ]