this day should be for me

[promittere]

WAXING GIBBOUS FINALE

» NAVIGATION

Comments

[leewards]

Rumours you say? Your hunches based on wagging tongues and half-baked ideas?

[Now Ithaqua comes up. In his hand, he's manifested another icicle, this time the length and thickness of a knitting needle, but pointed. Dangerous. And he twirls it around and around his fingers.]

Where did you hear such rumours from, then? Or did you visit the castle yourself and hear the chatter from the guards?

[promittere]

I—I dunno! Some of the other officers, I guess! I overheard the Southern wizards were back during the ball, and when I heard there was a new barrier around the castle I wondered!

[ He pounds his fist against his thigh. ]

I didn't care if I was wrong, because I was going to prove to the army that I was valuable anyway!

[leewards]

Yet more guesses-- unfortunately, that is not enough for a proper conclusion, especially when you came to one yourself and assumed Oz was in the castle solely because of the presence of my barrier.

You did not even consider that it might have only been the prince inside, hm? Or even the thought of the guards and officers, the royals.

[Then he leans in, black eyes wide, grimace large enough to bare his fangs.]

You who cares so much about your own kind, they would have been the one killed by your own hand if you had stormed the castle. I wonder... where's the value in that?

[promittere]

[ The man is clearly terrified by Ithaqua's threatening display. He whimpers when Ithaqua leans in, and he would be trembling if it weren't a warm night. ]

You—you don't understand! [ Nevertheless, he stands his ground like a fool. ] Central aren't our friends! The demise of Central would mean a Western era! And, and if I thought I could be the vanguard of that era, then...I would be a hero...

[leewards]

I see. [His voice is a growl, coming from deep within his chest and bubbling up through his throat and past his teeth. He believes these delusions of grandeur, yes, but he still knows that a proper response to how did he know for certain that Oz was in the castle is still required.]

This was all political, was it. Putting yourself on a pedestal... Perhaps even at the head of this so-called Western era?

Or someone else.

[1145pm]

[ Tatara hears the growl and he just looks at Ithaqua, measured.

He's watching. Try not to stab him. ]

[leewards]

[He sees that look. He raises a finger to Tatara, as if to say one moment. Repay some of Ithaqua's trust with trust in turn, hm?]

[1145pm]

[ Trust! ]

[promittere]

Me... Me!

[ His cry is almost pathetic. ]

I would be indispensable... Everyone would know me and what I did!!

[leewards]

Yourself? The man who would have killed the sage, his wizards, and all of the royals? No, no.

No one would have trusted you, especially when you blubber and cry, and you haven't anything but cotton fluff between your ears.

I think... given your waning conviction right now, you're believing that less and less. [He's just digging now, until he can get a proper answer. Because honestly, the man is stupid. Too stupid to be cautious, hence why he did all of this. But stupid. He cannot have made this machine all on his own. Devised all these plans on his own.

So, who helped him?]

[promittere]

If you'd let me you would've seen it! I would've singlehandedly made wizards obsolete and Western technology would have obliterated the calamity singlehandedly!

[ His voice rises as he tries to argue his dignity, a bit of the furious fire that was in his countenance to begin with slowly returning to him. ]

[leewards]

Let you? [Ithaqua releases a loud, nasty cackle, the kind a hyena would make, made worse with the horrible expression on his face. It's long and awful-- and only half forced.]

Power is not given. You have to take it for yourself.

Did you take your power for yourself? Or did someone give you the illusion of power?

[promittere]

It was mine! Mine!

[ Ithaqua's laugh only spurs on his anger. ]

I came from nothing and crawled my way to the top! I'm a genius mechanist and made it up the ranks because I deserved it! And I would've gotten even farther if it wasn't for— If it wasn't for...!

[ With a shaky finger, he points wildly at everyone present. ]

You!

[leewards]

[Ah. So this is the truth. So, he did make the machine. However... There are more things to be discussed, and they need to get back on track. Ithaqua uses the blunt end of his tool for intimidation to push the man's arm down. It is, indeed, cold.]

Keep your hands to yourself, or you may just find yourself without them.

Now, concentrate. Who fed you, the most self-assured idiot I have ever seen in my life, information about Oz? None of this vague shite of hearing it from someone random, hm?

[promittere]

It's true! [ He growls, very upset he's been touched. ] There was hearsay and I heard it! I knew my chances and I wanted to take it anyway! I don't care what you say!

[leewards]

Very well.

Then where did you hear it? What work, what building? [Which new spot does he need to creep into?]

[promittere]

At the Magitech Army HQ...

[leewards]

[Ithaqua's grin widens even more.]

Good man. That was not difficult, was it?

Now, we can move to another topic-- were you going to outright kill the royal family, not just the wizard prince?

[promittere]

The death of the Granvelle family would have been a boon for the West, don't you understand?!

[ He doesn't seem particularly sympathetic to Central lives... ]

Their deaths mean very little in the face of Western glory!

[leewards]

As well as the lives of others, I suppose. But you lost, and now you're right here, being threatened by me. [He waves his icicle in the human's face.]

One last question, because you're clearly useless-- do you know what a chimera is?

[promittere]

[ He growls at the threat! Grrr! ]

Picturebook monsters. [ His spit flies everywhere at the plosive, clearly disgruntled and angry. ]

[1145pm]

[ Here Tatara finally steps in, putting space between them. ]

That's enough. I don't think making him any angrier will help.

[ He smiles at Ithaqua. Right? ]

[leewards]

[Ithaqua gives him a nod. He's done. He's said all that he's needed and wanted to say.]

[leewards]

I imagined as much. [Ithaqua sneers at him with disdain, and nods to Tatara.]

Useless to the end-- a sign of what the world would have been under your rule. You would have made the Western country a laughingstock because you know nothing, your lack of convictions aside. What a representative! What a pillar of society!