The Requineverse

[Requine]

Cass sighs and lets Derek take a cake.

"I don't think he'll be trusting any of us. He's a Grand Hunter of the Malleus Maleficarum. He handles management and logistics duty for a bunch of Knight-Hunters, who work with Witch Hunters. So he's Witch Hunting management, basically. Paperwork and logistics and stuff."

 

[Gildthorn]

"Yeah, in his heyday he was a competent fighter, not that he isn't any longer. But his work now mostly revolves around him acquiring equipment, making moves on certain hotbeds or points of interest... not much direct stuff, especially not lately."

 

[The Mereland]

"...What about Coburn? Like... I know he's basically untouchable but that's not really." She trails off. Stops a waiter. Attempts to order something to drink. Fails. Lets the waiter go. "...-- That's not really helpful. He's actively working against overall best interests with moves like that, you know? We do not need heret-" Cough. "...corruption in our midst, you know? Root it out and destroy it, don't put it back where it was like some sort of bizarre fly-paper."

 

[Russell K. Kobayashi]

"I agree, that seemed a really weird decision. Coburn being Coburn, though, he probably has some angle he's working. Maybe he's trying to use Bosch for some kind of sting..."

Russell sits up, looking over at Derek and Grace. "Exactly what do the rank-and-file M&Ms think of Bosch by this point, anyway? I don't care how hard the Rat Squad clamped down, something about what he pulled has to have leaked into the Hall's grapevine."

 

[The Mereland]

"Don't like him. Don't like him at all. He's not popular. Not sure if he ever was, but from the brief moments I am there, I don't hear anything pleasant about him."

 

[Requine]

"Coburn's not exactly popular among the Inquisition either, right now. The Bosch thing could have been played off as four dimensional chess, but Colt embarrassed him by... being Colt. Coburn tried to play games with Colt, and it uh... failed. Spectacularly. So his competence is in question now. Hell, he may even be willing to talk to us, get some ground back."

 

[Russell K. Kobayashi]

Russell reaches up to rub his temples. He has zero fondness for Coburn, who's as snide and smug an Internal Affairs cop as he's ever met. But he's never had any doubt that the man was competent at being a slimy IA cop. Another wrinkle... "I think I'm out of the loop on that. Bring me up to speed, if you would?"

 

[Requine]

"Not much to update you on. People - including other Inquisitors - are pissed at him about Bosch. And he made an ass out of himself by asking Colt to spy on me, and then Colt went ahead and reported that on Twitter. So he's keeping his head down and he's looking for a way to look competent again."

Pause.

"We should bring Gillian in on this."

 

[Russell K. Kobayashi]

"That's a good idea. We'll need at least one friend in the Inquisition to make this work, and for the aftermath." Russell has a brief, not-entirely-irrelevant thought flit through his head. Two Witch Hunters, a retired Paladin, a Knight, the most controversial Knight-Captain in recent history... this is the kind of thing revolutions start with, isn't it?

"Let's not forget, though. Bosch is only part of this. Cass, I'm sure that soon Truss will be wanting a word with you, and I'm sure that word'll involve having you ramrod the anti-Dawnbreak ops."

 

[Requine]

"Oh no, not cult hunting." Cass laughs. "The worst! Look, that's fine. That's fine. I can deal with that."

 

[The Mereland]

"As potentially suicidal as it is, I'd like to work out a way to deal with Coburn before we consider what we can or cannot do about Bosch." She's... noticeably vague on what dealing with Coburn may mean. "From what Cass said, he may not be the obstacle I was thinking, but I'd feel better if we had him sidelined or at the very least thinking he was gaming us."

 

[Russell K. Kobayashi]

Russell glances at Grace, one eyebrow quirked slightly upward. He notes the vagueness in what dealing with Coburn might entail. He suppresses the thought that a clip of .45 ACP might be an appropriate way to "deal" with him. "So, let's figure that part out." He takes a sip of iced coffee, his eyes idly following a pretty tanned girl on the sidewalk for a moment before snapping back to the others. "So, trying to keep his nose clean aside, who is he currently being a nuisance to?"

 

[Requine]

"Me." Cass griped. "He asked Colt to spy on me. Not because I'm dangerous, but because I might hang out with treasonous sorts. Pish posh!"

 

[The Mereland]

"...Well I mean in fairness, you do hang out with me, and I'm sure I'm under suspicion. At the very least for The Grant Thing."

 

[Requine]

Cass's only reply is a noise that can only be written down as "Myehh!"

 

[The Mereland]

"and I say heyyeyay" Grace shrugs. "Okay. So. What can we do with that? There's gotta be some way to use this properly"

 

[Russell K. Kobayashi]

"I'm sure there is," Russell says reassuringly. He looks sideways at Cass, his fingertips tapping on the table to a tune that is not the one playing on the PA. "So is he actually getting underfoot, or just standing there being snide and disapproving?"

 

[Requine]

"The latter. Post me coming home from the Dawnbreak, I got a whooooooooole lot of political capital. Moving against me is... difficult, right now."

 

[Russell K. Kobayashi]

Russell suddenly smirks. "Get him really scared. Start flexing some of those muscles, see how he reacts..."

 

[Requine]

"You need me moving against Dawnbreak anyways, right?" Cass's smile widens. "I'm thinking it's time to really shit thunder on our enemies, show Temple Hall and Coburn I'm not some kid in a Templar uniform."