Dusk made a mental note to assign Nutty to investigate the paranatural properties of poetic irony as, no sooner than Tanya made her comment, the opera house collapsed in on itself. To her immense relief, this coincided with her son, her potential grandson, and a number of their party escaping out the door just in the nick of time. She let out an exhale that seemed to deflate her, and she all but slumped to lean on her old friend.
"Idainaru kitsune ni kansha," she murmured, an old Fyadorian turn of phrase she'd picked up in her time in Eastisle coming to her lips. She wasn't religious in the least, and was certainly skeptical of her husband's newfound faith, but if such a deity did exist, she'd give credit where credit was due. She watched Alwyn swiftly moving to take charge of the recovery, every bit the soldier that Talinn and Alexei had molded him to be.
May he one day forgive us for it.
She straightened up, taking a deep breath to recover her poise and composure.
"The Empress won't let this stand," she murmured.
"After this, every single ministry is going to be focused on rooting out the vulpinists. I wouldn't be surprised if the army sees deployment to the streets." Privately, she thought that would be a terrible mistake. A heavy-pawed response by the government would only confirm to the vulpinists and those inclined to support them that the government did not have their best interests at heart. Sadly, with all of this, they were well past the point where a calculated half-measure was a viable option. Anything less than complete retaliation would be read as trepidation (or worse, tacit approval) by the Empress. It seemed the vulpinsulists would get the war they'd desired.
"Come," Dusk requested of her co-conspirators, exhaustion creeping back into her voice.
"Let's go have that drink in private. I think we all need it." She caught sight of her two candidates for the Director's Men and gave each a subtle gesture of the paw, an
at ease command. There would be time for hunting the perpetrators of this act through the night, chasing them into their foxholes and rooting them out - but that was not that night. She needed her beasts at their best, and given what they'd gone through, rest and recovery was the order of the day.
And when we go after them... may Asmodeus have more mercy upon them than we will.
@Orina Emberkin @Tanya Keltoi @Lord Yaro Ashpaw @Matisse Dubois
