blood sweat tear

[imeanforever]

He's moving her to a different court to see if it'll improve her attitude. She's allowed to fly. It's been a long, long time since she was allowed to -

She is only allowed to fly to her destination, not anywhere else. She notices that she is not where she should be, that she cannot progress to where she was told to go, and she careens out of control when her wings won't flap anymore, and she crashes.

---

with Miles (kappa)

with Minus (kappa)

Comments

[infinitely_stranger]

"I suppose you do," Arcane agrees. "I have some experience conquering courts; I lead the team the Queen sends to take the most difficult ones."

[imeanforever]

"I just bet you do." Promise nibbles her lip. "...If Tea didn't tell you, I'm Promise."

[infinitely_stranger]

"He did not. He has been admirably security-conscious given his inexperience with holding hostile vassals, and has striven to avoid giving me any unnecessary information whatsoever, no matter how benign. I had no direct indication that you existed until you came through that second gate."

[imeanforever]

"He's seen me work a little, and I... learned from the best... but even given that I'm impressed too. But if you're going to stick around as opposed to being got rid of it's a little intractable for you not to have my nickname."

[infinitely_stranger]

"I would like to be permitted to heal myself of injuries sustained when Tea captured me and I cannot immediately think of any way I could use this opportunity to escape or work against your interests if the order was competently given," he adds.

[imeanforever]

Promise looks slightly irritatedly at Tea, then says, "Phrase it, 'You may for the next thirty seconds and exclusively on yourself use healing sorcery'."

[eversomuchfun]

Tea shrugs and repeats the order.

[infinitely_stranger]

Arcane ceases to be injured.

"To clarify, when the subject came up earlier I explicitly advised him not to let me do that. But with your help it is no longer a stupid idea."

[imeanforever]

"Are you a hostile vassal? Is it a stupid idea for me to even be thinking about letting you operate under relatively light orders?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"I don't have enough information to know whether or not my long-term interests are aligned with yours, but evidence suggests they may be," he says. "If you are as generally benign as you appear, I would happily cooperate with you even given complete freedom. If my tentatively positive assessment of your motives is substantially flawed, you are best advised to turn me into a small animal and keep me in a box."

[imeanforever]

"I am planning to conquer the Queenscourt and run Fairyland better than the Queen does. Feel free to question me about what I mean by 'better' because I don't have a public relations version written up yet."

[infinitely_stranger]

"I am indeed very interested in your definition of 'better'. What do you see as flaws in her governance?"

[imeanforever]

"She employs non-volunteer labor and even with this surplus of assistance does not police abusive courts even on her own continent."

[infinitely_stranger]

"That is certainly a flaw. Is there an abusive court you would like policed?"

[imeanforever]

"I can think of one."

[infinitely_stranger]

"It occurs to me that a lesser conquest might make a good testing ground for the resources and strategies involved in taking over the Queenscourt, under some circumstances."

[imeanforever]

"My suspicion is I'd rather be caught by the Queen than by Thorn."

[infinitely_stranger]

"Plausible. The effectiveness and advisability of testing this way depends on what your resources and strategies are."

[imeanforever]

"Bizarre mortal magic. Tea."

[infinitely_stranger]

"I don't know much about bizarre mortal magic, but I have a high opinion of Tea's competence and effectiveness."

[imeanforever]

"Well, the aura of drunk harmonics is new."

[infinitely_stranger]

"What a charming description."

[imeanforever]

"Speaking of which, do you happen to know why it's reputed to be impossible to do sorcery in the mortal world? It seems to be news to you too that this is false."

[infinitely_stranger]

"I've seen gates before. The locations they led to were impossible to do sorcery in, as far as I could tell without going through to try it personally. Compared to the intense harmonic noise they displayed, Tea's disruptive aura is positively sedate."

[imeanforever]

"Huh."