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

[summa_iniuria]

"Not a pretty picture," says Royal.

[imeanforever]

"Do you think you can ensure the success of the effort with sufficient freedom?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"That is not exactly what I meant, no. I do think that substantial restrictions to my freedom will diminish the effectiveness of my contribution."

[imeanforever]

"I agree, that's generally how things work."

[infinitely_stranger]

"And I cannot afford to do this with less than maximal effectiveness."

[imeanforever]

"Is there something in particular you suspect I'll be tempted to order you about which will interfere?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"Not in particular, no. But - if I had been compelled to conquer the mortal world, one of my first priorities in that effort would have been to erase all of my other Queenscourt orders, because any order can be the wrong order under some circumstances."

[imeanforever]

"There are probably more reassuring ways you could have put that to someone who's considering rescinding your Queenscourt orders," Promise points out mildly.

[infinitely_stranger]

"What?"

[imeanforever]

"I assume that in this instance you'd have left whichever order compels you to conquer the world intact and I'm not planning to, but mentioning that something I have been contemplating doing would be mostly step one in your plan to conquer the world...?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"I had thought the parallels would be more obvious," he says. "The conquest of this world, like the conquest of the Queenscourt, would have been a complex and difficult task with negligible room for error. The Queenscourt order set is exquisitely well crafted to avoid interfering with itself, and even so, if I was required to do something this difficult to the best of my ability, that would necessarily include being under no other orders for the duration of the task."

[imeanforever]

"Once the attack is in progress completing whatever plan we have for conquest will be the top priority. Until we're committed that far there are - methodological priorities that I'd place higher than arranging the best possible chance of a technical success."

[infinitely_stranger]

"What do you mean?"

[imeanforever]

"For instance, if it turns out that the plan with the best chance of success involves vassalizing and then deploying as slave labor innocent unwilling mortals I'm not going to do that even if it would totally work and the next best option might not."

[infinitely_stranger]

"Perhaps I should just be turned into a small animal and kept in a box," says Arcane, disgruntled.

[summa_iniuria]

"...To clarify," says Royal, "that isn't because you're disgusted with the idea of refraining from enslaving innocent mortals?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"No. Of course not. If it were my project to begin with, I would go with the next best option."

[imeanforever]

"But obviously I can't just order you to prioritize conquering Queenscourt and handing it to me, or it would result in you taking the most effective option; and you can see why I might not want to have you running around with no orders whatsoever when you've been comfortably working for the Queen for who knows how long."

[summa_iniuria]

Royal scrutinizes Arcane's face for a moment and then says, "Are you offended?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"A not inaccurate description," says Arcane, "although that is not how I would have put it."

[summa_iniuria]

"I sympathize, but given what's at stake here, have you considered getting over yourself?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"Your suggestion is noted."

[eversomuchfun]

Tea snorts.

[imeanforever]

"Offended by...?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"I did say that is not how I would have put it."