11 ɂ open spam

[mattersverymuch]

[It's been so many years since the marquis was young that he'd almost forgotten what it was like. He had been so small, ill-fed and underweight, and so easily broken. Which, really, explains a lot about what he's become - none of which he particularly wanted explained to the Barge as a whole.]

[To distract himself somewhat from this unfortunate reality, he has begun work on a compendium of stories, as he has nothing else to do with his time. Much of his work is done in the library, but much is also done in the CES, which becomes, variously, an abandoned city in a mishmash of styles, a thick, temperate, and foggy hardwood forest, and a riverside. He works mostly from memory and attempts comprehensiveness, though his writings as late veer toward tales of the trickster.]

Comments

[mattersverymuch]

Yes. And then I came back, ahead of the opposition.

[deadly_ned]

Were you planning on coming back?

[mattersverymuch]

If I wasn't planning on coming back, I wouldn't have allowed myself to die at all.

[deadly_ned]

I suppose there's something clever in that.

Did it hurt to die?

[mattersverymuch]

More than anything I've ever experienced before or since.

I was also tortured for. [He thinks for a moment.] Something like six hours, before I died. If that makes a difference.

[This is also a joke.]

[deadly_ned]

That's horrible.

[mattersverymuch]

That's sort of the point of torture, yes.

[deadly_ned]

I'm so, so sorry.

[mattersverymuch]

I'm not.

[deadly_ned]

You were tortured.

[mattersverymuch]

Yes, I was. And as a result of that torture, because the men who tortured me knew I was going to die, they let information slip that they didn't think would matter. Because I had a plan, and because I was able to remember what they told me through death, transportation, and resurrection, I prevented the destruction of my home.

So I'm not sorry.

[deadly_ned]

That was...surprisingly noble of you.

[mattersverymuch]

Not quite. I did it because I owed a young woman a favor. Said favor simply . . . aligned with my priorities, in the end.

[deadly_ned]

How about no more letting yourself get tortured, period?

[mattersverymuch]

Why not? It got me what I wanted.

[deadly_ned]

Because there's only one of you and you have to keep yourself in good condition!

[mattersverymuch]

I was fine in the end.

[deadly_ned]

It was still dumb. It was a dumb thing to do.

[mattersverymuch]

It's what was necessary to pay back the favor.

[deadly_ned]

I don't like seeing you put into danger.

[mattersverymuch]

Then look the other way.

[deadly_ned]

You don't feel just a little overwhelmed some days?

[mattersverymuch]

No.

Here? I'm bored.

[deadly_ned]

What would make you less bored?

[mattersverymuch]

Not being here.