@katelin.philips

[covertness]

after the fire, i talked to one of the firefighters on site. he said the fire started at the nurse's apartment and that the nurse was found dead inside. no cause of death known at the time, but they were already considering the fire suspicious. he said there'd be a full investigation soon.

i went to have another talk with him, together with marcos diaz. [ between her powers of emotional manipulation and marcos' truth inducement, they make a good team. ]

he's not involved in the investigation, but he's heard a thing or two. apparently someone was stockpiling carcasses of the smaller creatures that attacked in one of the other apartments. apparently people have been doing that, looking to resale the bodies.

not sure how useful that is, but i figure we're better off sharing whatever information we get, no matter how random. maybe we'll spot a connection or a pattern at some point.

Comments

@eugenides.attolis

[kleptocratic]

So your source isn't involved in this investigation. Do you know who is?

[covertness]

he wouldn't tell me
the police and the fire department, i assume, but i don't have any names

[kleptocratic]

Well, I guess there are other ways of finding things out.

Asking just seems the most polite.

[covertness]

what do you have in mind?

[kleptocratic]

Oh. That was rhetorical.

[ It wasn't, but so much of this world is still new to him he doesn't know what to do next. So, when in doubt, play innocent. ]

I'm a thief, not an inquisitor.

[ Mostly. ]

[covertness]

[ that's not a bad strategy ]

are you a good thief?

[kleptocratic]

Very.

A bit out of sorts here, though.

[covertness]

some people have been talking about getting their hands on monster carcasses
possibly by means of a heist

[kleptocratic]

I know we're all poor, but I'm surprised the rest of us are so quickly desperate enough to steal.

I could help, though, if that's what you mean.

[covertness]

one of them was talking heist, the other two might be thinking something else, i couldn't tell you

[ and katelin is going to very firmly turn a blind eye. ]

[kleptocratic]

Amateur thieving can be dangerous.

[ "Professional" thieving can be dangerous too, Gen. But maybe not everyone here was an amateur. ]

[covertness]

i wouldn't know
and i don't want to encourage it, either

but i guess these are exceptional circumstances

[kleptocratic]

It's an honorable profession and I won't be shamed.

But these are exceptional circumstances.

[covertness]

what makes it honorable?

[kleptocratic]

The stealing, primarily.

What makes anything honorable?

[covertness]

stealing isn't really considered honorable, where i'm from

[kleptocratic]

Well, there's your problem. What's considered honorable has nothing to do with what's actually honorable.

[covertness]

and what makes thieving actually honorable?

[kleptocratic]

You can get caught.

[covertness]

so?

[kleptocratic]

Why do people think fighting for their country is honorable? Because you can get killed doing it.

[covertness]

i don't think risk and honor are interchangeable

[kleptocratic]

So. It's the things a soldier fights for that makes him honorable, not the fighting.

[covertness]

yeah, i'd say so
unless they're fighting for bad reasons, then there's no honor there, either

[kleptocratic]

So. It's the same with stealing.