On the Clock

"On the Clock" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
He hummed to himself as Virion leisurely landed in a secluded spot just outside Wuntne. It had been a very eventful past few days, seeing Akkey again as well as all the rebels in action. He wrote many, many things down, and he looked forward to more. He rubbed his hands gleefully and started for the town, "Alright, let's see what this place has in store for us, Vir!"
tree-the-cat
Within a nearby alley, a battle-worn half-breed squinted suspiciously as he caught sight of an unknown dragon flapping briefly above Wutne’s hills, and he started making his way towards where he estimated it would have landed. He pulled up to the corner of an abandoned house, peered around it, and reached for one of his knives, rubbing a thumb over the handle. His nerves were already taut after the raid and he was more than ready to let loose on a potential spy or Central mage, even though Nala wouldn’t be back for a long time.
But he didn’t want the man to let him know he was onto him. So he waited, his short tail flicking back and forth.
akkeyagentofhelheim
The stranger smacked the Rumblehorn's rump, and with an affectionate grunt it ambled off away from them, "Make sure you come back on time for dinner!" Liam heard him call out, before the sound of dirt and stone crunched as the man walked lazily towards him. In one swift, practiced movement that betrayed some experience in combat, the half breed saw him take a notebook and a worn pencil from his bag, scribbling onto the paper and pushing his glasses up in concentration, "Chapter 7979: Wuntne - Post Raid."
tree-the-cat
“Hey.”
Liam flared up and stepped out of cover, holding his knife backwards at waist height and pointing the blade towards the man’s midriff as he aggressively moved forward. “I’m getting real sick an’ tired of people just landing around us without warning,” he spat, glaring like the stranger had committed a personal crime against him. “What do you want here?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
"Whoa!" the man hastily yet nimbly took some steps back his hands high in the air, still gripping the pen and papers, "Hi there!" A huge, friendly grin flashed on his face, as if completely oblivious of Liam's unease at his presence, "I'm just coming back from the raid! I was a little late, 'tis all."
tree-the-cat
Liam’s eyes squinted to the point of being in danger of closing. His lip curled. “Yeah, so was I, but I didn’t see you there, did I? Wanna try again?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
"I totally was!" the man folded his arms across his chest in thought, uncaring of the blade towards him, "Hmm, we didn't cross paths for sure, mhm, yeah, cus you were in the cells right? But I was there, especially when that explosion happened. Vir over there freaked out a little," he motioned with his head towards the direction of where his dragon disappeared.
tree-the-cat
He huffed, annoyed at the proof the man had given him. “So you were there. But not with Lila’s permission. So you’re a spy. Or a hack. Or something a lot worse. What are you writing down?” Liam used the blade to jab at the papers in his hand.
akkeyagentofhelheim
"Oh, would you like to see?" the notebook was clumsily pushed into Liam's paw, deftly avoiding the weapon and closing the distance between them quickly. There was an excitement in his voice, "I write stories! It's in my language, though, so..." Liam flipped through the pages and saw unrecognizable markings that filled every bit of empty space.
"Lila saw a little bit of it the other day, too!" the man continued, "She's an interesting one. All business and serious work, she led everyone well."
tree-the-cat
“The fuck?” Liam muttered under his breath, shoving the book back into his arms and making a mental note to show Nala his memories later. “Are you a rebel or not? I haven’t even seen you around yet,” he demanded, as though he were the sole gatekeeper of the rebellion. His attitude and words mimicked a familiar demonic guardian of his. 
akkeyagentofhelheim
"Tsk tsk, you really shouldn't curse so much, Liam." the notebook snapped shut and disappeared in the bag along with the pencil, and for some reason they started making their way inside the town, "I'm a rebel, in a way! My job requires me to travel around a lot, you see. I don't stay in one place too long too often, so not a lot of people remember me." The man adjusted his glasses again, "You're a curious one, arent you? I don't mind, ask me anything!"
tree-the-cat
His pupils narrowed. He hadn’t told this man his name. Was Lila talking shit about him?
“I still really don’t believe any of that,” he growled, keeping pace with him, and keeping the knife pointed warningly at him. “What’s this job you do?”
akkeyagentofhelheim
"Mmm... more like, jobs, perhaps?" they ambled along the road, passing by old structures that fell to disrepair, as if it were a simple afternoon walk, "I'm on call, really. My boss tells me to go to a place and do anything that she asks, and I get to record all the events that happen. Like a storyteller! Or a historian! Yeah, my job is to write down history as it happens. A scribe," the man nodded, as satisfied with the conclusion that he came to regarding his occupation, "So like, way back during the First Rebellion when the witch attacked us, that was a big one to take note of. Or when your mom accidentally got high afterwards. That was interesting..."
tree-the-cat
"You're just as bad as talking to what's-his-goat-nuts," Liam complained. Why didn't Tree ever tell him the cool stories? And why did that count as history to match Walpurgisnacht? "If your boss isn't Lila or Grey, I don't know why you're bothering with us."
akkeyagentofhelheim
"Aha, he can be handful, eh?" A sheepish laugh rang in the air, "But see, my boss told me to come here. So it's not really a bother? And I've always liked you rebels. Always so interesting, always up to something."
With a turn on the heel, Liam found himself face to face with the man, exactly at eye level with dark amber eyes and a friendly yet mysterious grin, "Besides, it's not like there's zero connections here. My boss is, in a way, their boss, after all."
tree-the-cat
Liam tilted his head away slightly without breaking eye contact, and he lowered his knife an inch or so. "You're an agent of Hel," he asked, without the inflection of a question. His fingers fluttered slightly around the handle as he readjusted his grip. "That likes to write a lot."
akkeyagentofhelheim
The grin was so wide Liam thought he'd go blind for a second, "Yes! You're a smart one. I am one of the very, very many agents of Hel." The man crossed his arms in thought, "Of course, everyone has different jobs. My faction is just a little bit more streamlined and intellectual than others. They call it The Bookkeeper. We follow Hel's orders, watch history go by, and record it-" With a flick of the wrist, he tapped the point of Liam's blade unguardedly, "-no interference, no questions asked."
tree-the-cat
The blade quickly flashed as it flipped into a reverse hold in his paw, and his other hand came up and snatched the man's wrist, squeezing it. A few dark wisps of smoke hissed from his claws in the low sunlight. "Quit that," Liam growled. "You could still be lying. How do I know you're not another...I don't know...omniscient fucker? Or another god?" His grip grew tighter. "We could always keep you around so my friend can make absolutely sure of that."
akkeyagentofhelheim
“I suppose you don’t, heh?” there was a nod of agreement, “It’s your choice to believe me or not. Like I said, no interference. Whatever happens, happens.” The bag rustled as the man reached for his papers again, completely ignoring the paw around his wrist, or even the smoke that trailed around them. It was like everything was taken in stride, “You talking about the Warden? Sure! I’ve never had a chance to actually speak with her before.”
"She'd thump you," Liam snapped without skipping a beat. "Mostly for acting so fucking weird, but also because you're just going to stand around and write about things instead of...I don't know...actually helping."
akkeyagentofhelheim
"You've been doing fine without my help, though." the man replied after scribbling once again within the five minutes Liam had met him, "The raid went pretty well, didn't it?"
tree-the-cat
Liam bristled at that, his cheeks heating. "Will got hurt. Nala had to stay back." He let go of the stranger's arm with a venemous shove as he went to continue writing. "My g...a bunch of freaky stuff happened and I don't even know what's going on. You think that sounds pretty great?"
akkeyagentofhelheim
"Will got healed. The Warden is capable of taking care of herself. Nobody knows everything that's going on. You saved hundreds(?) of half breeds from the dungeon," The notebook snapped shut and disappeared again, "It's better than the other things I've seen." The sunlight glinted off his glasses, hiding his eyes in the brightness, "Not everyone you're going to meet will help you, Liam. Sometimes you have to pick up your own shit and do it yourself. And TBH you're doing decently."
Amber eyes met with his again, but Liam felt that they were seeing something that wasn't there, "I promise you. I will not help, and I will not harm. I take my job seriously, and I swear on Hel's name that this is the truth."
tree-the-cat
A very different prickle rolled across Liam’s shoulders as he stared at the man--still not good, but not necessarily bad, either. 
Not everyone you’re going to meet will help you. 
“Who are you?” he repeated.
akkeyagentofhelheim
"I'm Juro Jin. Bookkeeper, Agent of Helheim," a sincere, friendly hand extended towards Liam in proper greeting, "Pleased to meet you."
tree-the-cat
The half-breed fiddled with his knife in indecision before decisively flipping it and sheathing it slowly, before cautiously reaching out and taking his hand, retracting his claws. He opened his mouth briefly, but then shut it. “You already know who I am, don’t you.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
"Yes," Juro nodded with a smile and a firm shake of the hand, "But only in the most shallow levels of history. So if you would permit me, I'd like to get to know you and your friends better while I'm here."
tree-the-cat
Liam puffed out his cheeks and considered him, withdrawing his paw. “I just don’t want you to hurt us,” he admitted, his expression still stormy. “And I don’t want to just...hand you information that could get ripped out of your head and used against us.”
akkeyagentofhelheim
"Perfectly valid. Fair. I get it," he closed his eyes and hummed in thought, "I'm fairly confident in my abilities to protect myself and not be a liability, and of course a the guarantee to cause no harm but only a stranger's word wouldn't be very reassuring, I'd imagine."
"Mmm, I don't mind being monitored, or like warded, or something..." he opened his eyes with a cheeky grin dancing on his face, "And if things go south, I mean you can always just kill me."
tree-the-cat
Liam squinted again, and he bit his lip in thought for several seconds, sizing him up. Then, on a hunch, he rapidly drew both knives with a low hiss, his paws darkening and trailing smoke, and he immediately attempted to stab them both upwards under Juro's ribcage.
akkeyagentofhelheim
A rough, staff-like object suddenly appeared, seemingly out of thin air, to block the knives. The blades embedded themselves part of the way through the knotted wood, and with uncanny ease, Juro hopped backwards, smoothly avoiding his claws. He stood there, holding the "staff", not the slightest bit bothered that Liam had just attacked him.
tree-the-cat
Liam nodded once in satisfaction and leaned forward to yank out both his daggers simultaneously. The blackness covering his paws slowly slid down the blades and dripped to the ground.
"Yeah, you're okay," he said decisively.
He began striding back to the heart of Wutne.
akkeyagentofhelheim
A pleased hum escaped his lips at the result of seemingly passing the half breed’s test, and with a whoosh of air, the weapon shrank back into the pencil that Liam was now unfortunately–or fortunately, who knew–familiar with. The easygoing man twirled it in his fingers, before slipping it back in his bag and following him into town.
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Events
Category:Act I
Category:Liam Arnason
Category:Jin Juro
Category:Virion