Knowledge is the weapon.

Moirah. Dekn. Devotee of El'epagi. Happily married lesbian in an open relationship. Only sane member of Lathrymite Tumblr. Diplomat, badass, honorable thief. ***UPDATE: SHANNA HAS BEEN FOUND. I'm very grateful to everyone who helped.***

[shelovesplants]

Protection 🧿💙

[pariahspraises]

WELL, THEN.

I talked to Moirah Averil last night. She hasn’t been telling ANYONE the whole fucking story. 

@usedtothesedizzyspells explain yourself. You’ve got a lot to answer for.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

> explain yourself

You realize the thing you’re asking me to self-flagellate for happened years ago, right? And that I am by no means the same person I was then? 

[pariahspraises]

I do, yes. I also realize that there are consequences to what you did. Not just for Shanna, either. 

Readers, the thing Moirah’s not saying is that she is the reason Shanna has Beguilement. She had Andras implant it into Shanna’s genetic code all those years ago because she wanted to create someone Marchosias couldn’t resist going after. She used her own fucking niece as bait. And now he has his wifi repeater back and who knows what he’ll do. 

So if everything goes to shit and Marchosias gets his way, blame Moirah for giving him the final piece of the puzzle. 

[archives-of-the-scholar]

Which means that…

… Moirah.

How far ahead have you been planning this? Your helping me with the throne, making Shanna as bait.

I don’t know what to say to you.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

…Okay.

Yeah.

I did have a role for you in the plan. Your job was always to get her to that first meeting with him. Once I knew what Andras was planning, I made sure Shanna got an apartment close to you so that you could meet more easily. But it was never supposed to turn out the way she did. She was supposed to be able to shield. She was supposed to be the one to draw him out so that we could-

I’m sorry, Faust. I’m so, so sorry. 

I am going to do whatever I can to clean up this mess. None of you deserve to be suffering the consequences of my recklessness.

[archives-of-the-scholar]

What the fuck gives you the right, Moirah?

What gives you the right to play with people’s lives with this for some grander plan? To mold them into pawns for your grand plan without even communicating as such? Building them up to be fucking broken?

You sicken me with this. You shame me.

I wish I did not have to tell you to stay out of people’s lives like this, Moirah. To stop using them.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

I DON’T DO THAT ANYMORE.

When Shanna went off the radar, and things with Laurien went south, it made me realize just how wrong my approach has always been. I’m not above others. I’m not a chessmaster. I’m a fallible, limited person who has no right to do the things I’ve done to others.

And yes, I did have good reasons for doing them. But you’re right, @pariahspraises is right, and Andras was right all those years ago when he told me that I’m no better than he is. The fact that I had good reasons for doing what I did MEANS NOTHING in the face of the harm I’ve caused and I KNOW THIS. 

I want to do better. I want to show you all that I can do better. That I can be useful to all of you, in the face of whatever happens from now on. I have power. I have resources. But from now on, I’m only going to use them at the discretion of those I’ve hurt.

[pariahspraises]

WELL, THEN.

I talked to Moirah Averil last night. She hasn’t been telling ANYONE the whole fucking story. 

@usedtothesedizzyspells explain yourself. You’ve got a lot to answer for.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

> explain yourself

You realize the thing you’re asking me to self-flagellate for happened years ago, right? And that I am by no means the same person I was then? 

[pariahspraises]

I do, yes. I also realize that there are consequences to what you did. Not just for Shanna, either. 

Readers, the thing Moirah’s not saying is that she is the reason Shanna has Beguilement. She had Andras implant it into Shanna’s genetic code all those years ago because she wanted to create someone Marchosias couldn’t resist going after. She used her own fucking niece as bait. And now he has his wifi repeater back and who knows what he’ll do. 

So if everything goes to shit and Marchosias gets his way, blame Moirah for giving him the final piece of the puzzle. 

[archives-of-the-scholar]

Which means that…

… Moirah.

How far ahead have you been planning this? Your helping me with the throne, making Shanna as bait.

I don’t know what to say to you.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

...Okay.

Yeah.

I did have a role for you in the plan. Your job was always to get her to that first meeting with him. Once I knew what Andras was planning, I made sure Shanna got an apartment close to you so that you could meet more easily. But it was never supposed to turn out the way she did. She was supposed to be able to shield. She was supposed to be the one to draw him out so that we could-

I’m sorry, Faust. I’m so, so sorry. 

I am going to do whatever I can to clean up this mess. None of you deserve to be suffering the consequences of my recklessness.

[pariahspraises]

WELL, THEN.

I talked to Moirah Averil last night. She hasn’t been telling ANYONE the whole fucking story. 

@usedtothesedizzyspells explain yourself. You’ve got a lot to answer for.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

> explain yourself

You realize the thing you’re asking me to self-flagellate for happened years ago, right? And that I am by no means the same person I was then? 

[seeker-of-escape]

@mirrored-passeridae um.

Your sister seems to be having a little bit of a um. Meltdown.

I hate to be the one to bring it up, but

I feel like you should know

[mirrored-passeridae]

I could feel it before I even checked but she's hiding from me again. I caught something about needing to prove Her love before she walled me out.

Hethe damn him what is happening?

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

If I had to guess from what I'm seeing? I'd say he probably just got bored of her. He strung her along and made her feel like his special little princess and now he's tired of having to nurture the emotional attachment he forced her to develop in the first place.

Typical fuckboy move, really.

The bright spot here is that if she's coming back to you, even if only for a minute, that means she's losing faith in him.

[societyofthepurplerose]

I would just like to say

that when our Master is revealed to be the One True God that we all know Him to be

Jacques Redgrave will be made to regret his decision to be such an annoying little pissant

That is all.

–Mod Royal Sunset

[societyofthepurplerose]

if that damned old waste of blood (¬_¬ ) keeps upstaging our God Most Divine!!!!

ヽ(`⌒´メ)ノヽ(`⌒´メ)ノヽ(`⌒´メ)ノ

i’m going to  sink my teeth into something’s neck and rip out their throat, stopping their pulse, and lay it at the feet of Our Holiest Emperor Elucidis as offering…!

he’s so f uck ing  ir r itating 

 we ca n’t bribe him, we can’t blackmail him, a l l he d oe s is s tare at us and snark and laugh and INTERFERE just li ke he did with the  godds am ned letters an d vaLUED AGENTS we se nt t o Th e Sch o lar

- ❤︎ mod hybrid-tea ❤︎

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

So you guys WERE sending all that shit to Faust!

NO WONDER I COULDN'T FUCKING SEE WHO WAS DOING THAT, IT WAS MALISTRADE BLOCKING ME, OF COURSE

Hethe I'm a fucking idiot

-Uvall

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

Okay, okay, don't panic, I

I don't know what's going on with her. I KNOW I'm supposed to have all the answers, but this is–

Hethe damn it, why won't she let me TALK to her? Why did I have to ruin EVERYTHING?

@pariahspraises you'd better fucking do something about this. Now.

[pariahspraises]

One more has been taken.

Stay strong, Aysel. We'll get you out soon. We'll get you all out soon.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

Reinforcements are coming.

[pariahspraises]

Cool cool.

So, by reinforcements, you mean reinforcements, right? Not some poor sap you roped into spying on Shanna for you which, by the way, worked out so well last time you did it?

Asra might trust you, but I need a little more convincing.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

I mean actual reinforcements, Timothée. Don't think my concern for Shanna is baseless, or that it blinds me to the fact that we're on the same team.

Consider this an olive branch. I'm not trying to make enemies with people who want the same things I do. I want to help you guys out– in any way I can.

[pariahspraises]

One more has been taken.

Stay strong, Aysel. We'll get you out soon. We'll get you all out soon.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

Reinforcements are coming.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

You guys want to hear any stories? I need to take my mind off of everything happening right now.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

Arbitration: A Retrospective

I'd hoped to be able to spend this one with Shanna.

My brother hasn't been the same since Peri died, but today he looked like a broken man, all graying hair and sagging skin and no will to live. His son was taking care of him, though it was clear that relations between the two are strained. I told him I found Shanna, but that she'd moved in with someone else, and he–

He didn't care. He didn't care. I wanted to hit him, to tell him that so much of this was his fault, but come on, that's my brother.

Over a game of Go, I asked my nephew if he knew the reason for Ali's condition. "No," he said. "Andras lost interest in us a while ago, so it couldn't be him."

"Between you and I," I told him, "Andras As'phyxiar has lost far more than interest recently."

I think it's grief, or guilt, or both. Not everything is an attack. Not even most things are. The worst monsters to fight are the ones that exist within our own minds.

... I'll pray that Ellpagg grants him fortitude to face them.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

Shanna's safe and okay. That's all I can really ask for. Still not answering my calls or messages, but that's fine, maybe she needs time. At least I know where she is and how to get to her.

Though I will say, if Timothée hurts her or gets her into some kind of trouble, he'll have me to deal with, and very few have ever come out of that unharmed or unchanged.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

Marchosias you sentient jizz stain, you can't leave us alone for FIVE MINUTES can you

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

...and she left.

Just like that, she’s gone. What did she climb out a window or something? 

Gods, I feel like a terrible person. 

[shannathesiren]

u h m guys I think I may have 

accidentally

used my powers on Victoire

she opened my door without knocking and tried to talk to me and it happened so quickly that I’d already done it before I realized what I was doing and 

I need to leave I need to get somewhere I can’t hurt anyone else this isn’t safe anymore

[archives-of-the-scholar]

Shanna, Shanna, this isn’t your fault, I promise, it was an accident - don’t go

[shannathesiren]

well I can’t stay here

not after this

Moirah hates me, I saw the proof on her blog– I’ve changed in ways she doesn’t want or know how to deal with 

what I just did may have been an accident but it isn’t something ANYONE will forgive me for

least of all myself

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

I don’t hate you, Shanna. I just don’t really know how best to help you, which is something we can fix. Please, don’t leave just because of a mistake. 

We can still salvage this. 

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

It doesn’t look good for the most influential information broker and private investigator in the Lathrym to be having a social media breakdown, but fuck it, are you guys down to listen to me ramble about my increasingly dysfunctional home life?

I don’t want Shanna to see this, so I’m encrypting it. 

I feel like she’s different now in a way I can’t help her with. Truth be told, it’s entirely my fault. I failed her. I should have come for her a long time ago, before it got to the point where she was lonely enough to fall for Marchosias’s shit, and I didn’t. What does that say about me? My work is important, it still is, but it never should have become more important than her.

I know she resents me. She stays in her room most of the time when she’s not working, usually listening to music on high to block everything else out. She doesn’t answer the door when Victoire and I knock. She doesn’t have a social life outside of work and the deknet. She’s shut herself off from me– and from most people– and again, I find myself completely unable to fix a problem that I’m at fault for.

[seeker-of-escape]

Congratulations, Moirah.

You have acquired… a teenager.

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

Her age would actually be equivalent in maturity to a human or hybrid in their early 20s, but thanks for the snark. 

[usedtothesedizzyspells]

It doesn’t look good for the most influential information broker and private investigator in the Lathrym to be having a social media breakdown, but fuck it, are you guys down to listen to me ramble about my increasingly dysfunctional home life?

I don’t want Shanna to see this, so I’m encrypting it. 

I feel like she’s different now in a way I can’t help her with. Truth be told, it’s entirely my fault. I failed her. I should have come for her a long time ago, before it got to the point where she was lonely enough to fall for Marchosias’s shit, and I didn’t. What does that say about me? My work is important, it still is, but it never should have become more important than her.

I know she resents me. She stays in her room most of the time when she’s not working, usually listening to music on high to block everything else out. She doesn’t answer the door when Victoire and I knock. She doesn’t have a social life outside of work and the deknet. She’s shut herself off from me-- and from most people-- and again, I find myself completely unable to fix a problem that I’m at fault for.