voidtreckerexpress | The Nose Knows

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The Nose Knows

Who: Wester, Xue Yang, and eventually others
Where: The Gaming Car
When: Fiddlesticks the Twenty-Third, Night
What: Wester's finally found their target, and they aren't going to let Xue Yang go free.
Warnings: Discussion of murder, violence, torture, mental torture, etc.

It's impossible to avoid certain cars when you're going about your business on the train. After all, there's one path both to and fro, with no way to get around different cars unless you feel like spacing yourself.

So it was inevitable that Xue Yang would have to pass through the games car all by his lonesome at some point on the night of the twenty-third. And when he did, Wester was ready.

They step out of the shadows, dressed in the same getup from the party to make themself completely unrecognizable. As furious as they are, Wester isn't about to blow their cover.

Without even looking at Xue Yang, Wester goes straight to the point.

"I know you killed A-Qing."

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Xue Yang stops his walking as soon as the man emerges from the shadows. Quirking an eyebrow he looks at the odd attire and just figures it's another weird person on the train. Not that he can say anything about fashion give when he is usually dressed in. But then the man speaks and a small smirk spreads across his lips. He folds his arms in front of his chest.

"Really? And in what way can you prove such a fact? Though I will say that I did kill her on our world since that shouldn't matter in this one."

He has shared many of his more dastardly deeds with people already in this place so he doesn't care what anyone really thinks about him. So for someone to just show up and accuse him of things doesn't really bother him at all.

"In terms of material proof?" Wester shrugs. "I have none. But..." They snap their head towards Xue Yang, taking in a deep, deep breath through their nose. "Deeds as vile as murder leave their mark on the soul. It took me a while to sniff you out after I stumbled across the scene of the crime, but the scent of violence was unmistakable after I tracked you down."

Wester casually walks across the car, looking out the window. As calm as they are, Xue Yang can feel the fury they're keeping tightly contained radiating off them in waves... but there's a hint of melancholy underneath it. "Now, while I don't have evidence, the council is on your tail already. If I pointed them in your direction, it would only be a matter of time until they found you. I don't doubt you don't give half a damn about whatever weak punishment they brew up for you, but I'm sure some of the other passengers would be far more... vengeful. I can vouch for myself by saying that if I had slightly less self-control, you'd have a heart next to your own name right about now.

"Possibly several more.

"And I have it on good authority that dying is hardly pleasant."

They sigh, pushing off the wall and turning to face Xue Yang. "But I'm not going to kill you. Instead, I propose a wager. A Shadow Game. If I win, you are at my mercy, and I will extract a confession from you and broadcast it to the train. If you win, I am at yours, and no matter what you do to me I will not breathe a word of what transpired to anyone." The shadows around the entire car grow thicker, darker, longer. Behind Xue Yang and ahead of him, the doors click as if they're being locked. "Either way, neither of us will be leaving until out business here is concluded."

"Then your nose must be quite distracted. I've killed hundreds and so my soul has been marked for most of my life. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with such a dark soul on this train." He doesn't seem too disturbed by the locking of doors. If this one wants to play a game, then so be it. He'll play along if for no other reason then because it gives him something to do.

"Since you have no physical proof, and are going only on an assumption that may or may not be correct, if people decide to me kill me in retribution for a crime that I may not have committed, then doesn't that make them no better then me? Then they should also be punished or else the judgement is not particularly fair. The crimes of one shouldn't be treated any differently as the crimes of another." He waves his hand dismissively towards the whole set up of the game.

"I'm not afraid of dying. I already was about to on my world so why should I care about doing so in this place when it simply will bring me back? But if you are so bent on a punishment game then there isn't really anything I can do to persuade you otherwise."

People who consider themselves above him and worthy of judgment over him are his least favorite people. And so far Wester is putting himself into that category. "I imagine there is a zero percent chance I will win this game but let's continue since it seems I am stuck here until it's conclusion."

"You misunderstand. Every act of sin has a unique scent, a rank odor of negative emotion, impulse, and intent that marks it as unique. That's why it took me so long to track it back to you." Wester wouldn't have confronted Xue Yang like this if they weren't absolutely certain it was him. They may be impulsive occasionally, but not when their darker half screamed for them to fulfill its purpose.

"Please." Wester scoffs, glaring at Xue Yang. Oh, how they despise scum who moralize and debate semantics in an attempt to save their own sorry hides. "It's not like I'm actually planning on killing you." What they're going to do would be much worse than that. "And don't pretend that there isn't a difference between killing an innocent and executing a killer. I'm not in the mood to argue with you over it anyways."

Wester turns, gesturing grandly at the other end of the hall, where an oddly sinister-feeling dart board has been set up. "Oh, you'll have a sporting chance." (Absolutely not, if Wester had anything to say about it.) "The rules are simple. We each take turns throwing these knives," they flourish their hand, and Xue Yang notices three red steak knives on the table next to him, while Wester has three purple-hilted ones next to them, "at the board. Once we're out of knives, whoever has the most knives closest to the bull's eye wins.

"Well then. Shall we?"

"I still haven't agreed to being called the killer in this case. Just because you say your nose can point in my direction, doesn't mean I have to believe it. And I would hardly call her an innocent. She did more to end my life on my world then you probably realize." But people only see the end crime and not the circumstances leading up to it and so here they are.

Xue Yang doesn't look too bothered by it either way. He stares at the knives. The man would pick a game that would land right into his specialty. It's a shame he knows that he is destined to lose. He is able to control a sword to the pinpoint accuracy of being able to take a tongue out of a talking mouth. Hitting a bullseye with a knife is child's play.

He picks up one of the knives by the handled and flips it in the air and then easily catches the blade between his fingers. "Very well. Should I assume you're going to make me go first?"

"Really? Do tell." Wester doubts that Xue Yang is telling the whole truth about A-Qing—they know for a fact that he murdered her just a week ago and is coolly denying it to their face—but they might as well indulge him. Humoring Xue Yang might give him enough space to let slip a confession.

After doing some cursory research into what the council had found, Wester had concluded that whoever murdered A-Qing had some expertise with bladed weapons and had constructed the game to give him a... sporting chance. Hypothetically. "I did say you'd start when I explained the rules. Go on."

"The story is unimportant to those that already have decided guilt." Xue Yang likes to hear himself talk but is smart enough to avoid anything that might draw more attention to the act.

Instead he lets that knife fly easily from its position between his fingers. It hit soundly and securely nearly dead center. Even if he loses the game, he will not go down with a poor hand. He should at least make the match interesting.

"Humor me, then." Wester picks up their own knife, twirling it in their hands as they test its weight. "Why did you kill her on your own world?" That seems like a good a place as any to start; if they get him heated enough about it Xue Yang might let something slip. (Although considering his demeanor so far, that seems unlikely.)

Wester takes aim and languidly throws the knife at the dart board. Despite their lazy aim, it lands directly above Xue Yang's own.

The second knife is in his hand and gone almost as soon as Wesker's is there. It lands in almost the same place as his first one, leaving just enough space that they don't hit.

"Her death and my own were to be almost simultaneous if I hadn't ended up here instead. You could say she is linked to three deaths actually. Not everyone is as innocent of sin as they pretend to be."

Letting that be the implication that she was the potential cause of his own without explaining how either was possible.

"Oh, please." Wester snorts, carefully considering their own knife. "Do you think I'm an idiot? I know she's hiding something; you don't pretend to be blind for no good reason, after all. I see no proof that 'something' is worth killing her for, unless you provide it to me."

Once more, Wester takes careful aim, throws, and... the knife lands on the outer rim of the board. Odd. considering their previously displayed skill.

He looks at the placement of that knife, knowing that with this last one in his hand he would easily win. Except he also knows that within the placement of those is a carefully edged plan.

"I have no obligation to provide you with anything." He sends that knife flying and watches it land just below the other two. "Now one would think you wouldn't even have to throw that final knife since I would have already won given the placement on the board. But seeing how I'm sure you never intended to lose in the first place and have been setting me up for failure, please hurry up and win so that we can get to the punishment."

He moves away from the game and sits down on a nearby table. Just like every trial he has ever had in his life..fairness never plays a part. He has never truly deserved to be treated fairly and so he never sees any point in doing the same for others. It's a cruel cycle but one that seems to control all of Xue Yang's life. If he had been treated fairly as a child, perhaps things would have turned out much differently for him.

"You know, normally I would comment something along the lines of having played your arrogance in always aiming for the bull's eye like a fiddle, but those are the premises of this game and you're being remarkably sportsmanlike about all this, so I'll spare you the lecture." Wester offhandedly throws their knife in an odd arc... hilt first, so it sails underneath their own on the upper bounds of the dartboard and slamming into the collection of the four right around the bull's eye, sending them all clattering to the ground.

"Any last words, Xue Yang?"

Xue Yang waves his hand dismissively. Talking at this point is pointless. He's used to torture of all kinds, so whatever this one chooses to throw at him can be added to the already long list. The minute he was locked into this car he knew that he wouldn't be leaving until his punishment was dolled out.

"You've waited so long for this moment, so please..enjoy yourself."

"You know? I almost wish I did."

Wester thrusts their hand towards Xue Yang and roars, "PENALTY GAME: HELL REVERSE!"

And then...

Xue Yang experiences his very first murder, all over again. Except this time, it's from the perspective of his victim as the roles reverse and they kill him.

Then his second.

Then his third.

Over.

And over.

And over.

This is going to take awhile. His hands drip with the blood of hundreds. Entire clans have fallen beneath his blade. ANd now those clans, exact their revenge. And he accepts it. He never felt guilty for the things he has done. Hours probably pass and it travels from clan to clan. Even sect leaders have felt the steel of Jiangzai along their throats.

And then comes a far more difficult scene to watch. A man in all white and another in black. The one in white approaches and for the first time pain and guilt registers on Xue Yang's face. He watches that blade comes to his throat and slides across it. His hand might not have been the one who killed him, but his actions certainly did. So for him, this one was as much his fault as any other. Then the man in black removes his tongue before finishing him.

His body is growing weaker, unable to handle the mental strain of being killed hundreds of times. He can barely even see these last few. One more clan falling, his skin being pealed from his bones.

And finally the latest fatality. Done on this very train. Another tongue removed. Another blade through the chest. He held out as long as he could but the mental exhaustion is high.

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The Nose Knows

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i almost never get to use this icon but it's always the best possible choice when i do

LMAO. I love when I finally get to use a specific icon