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 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."

[summa_iniuria]

"Well, how would you put it?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"I understand that my ability to work comfortably as a member of the Queenscourt is not favourable evidence about my character, but more direct evidence is available. On practical grounds, my free cooperation is a more effective resource than my constrained assistance. In most respects you appear to be the sort of person I want in charge of the Queenscourt and therefore the sort of person I would freely cooperate with. But rather than being interested in determining whether you can trust my free cooperation and then asking for it, you appear to instead be interested in convincing me to willingly agree to be your tool of conquest rather than the Queen's."

[imeanforever]

"How would you like me to determine if I can trust your free cooperation? I produced a mortal character reference; similar are going to be thin on the ground for you and you could always agree and then change your mind."

[infinitely_stranger]

"You may determine if you can trust my free cooperation by asking," says Arcane. "I have no knowledge of your criteria. But I am entirely capable of predicting how and under what circumstances I might change my mind. It is overwhelmingly unlikely that I will abandon cooperating with you unless you turn out to be secretly malevolent, or you fuck up the conquest of the Queenscourt so irreparably that the only sensible option remaining is to flee as far and as fast as possible."

[imeanforever]

"And you can firmly trust your predictions here because...?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"I have an extremely long and extremely reliable track record of understanding myself to exactly the degree I think I do."

[imeanforever]

"I will still want your name but I do not require otherwise that you be under any orders."

[infinitely_stranger]

"That is... acceptable. I would like more time to think but I anticipate agreeing at the end of it."

[imeanforever]

"All right."

[infinitely_stranger]