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]

"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]

[imeanforever]

"Thank you for your help, Royal. Do you want to stick around?"

[summa_iniuria]

"Not sure. I'm definitely interested in offering all reasonable assistance to the conquest of the Queenscourt, but it seems like you haven't quite even reached the planning stages yet."

[imeanforever]

"Not quite, no. But a more comprehensive idea of what mortal magic we can get our hands on would be good once we do."

[summa_iniuria]

"I can arrange for us to get our hands on a lot of mortal magic, potentially," she says. "Besides just what Castle can manage, which is already a lot. I think I'm going to start looking into unusually effective, flexible, useful, and recent magic systems - see what I can add to the toolbox, and see if I can catch any inventors like Castle who might be inclined to help out."

[imeanforever]

"Thanks."

[summa_iniuria]

"Happy to help."

[imeanforever]

"And with that all in a position not to require my immediate attention for right now, since my Valley Continent gate is settled I'm going to go plant my tree and get some proper food."

[summa_iniuria]

"Sounds like a plan," says Royal. "I'll see you later."

[imeanforever]

"Bye. Thanks again."

And Promise picks up her tree branch and goes through her Valley Continent gate and finds a good place for her tree and plants it and grows it and finds some food and fills up and then comes back to Tea's crypt.

[eversomuchfun]

Tea and Arcane are playing verbal chess.