audience: aventurine

[mygod]

Comments

[tactic]

[ Perceives. ]

I like him too. I didn't know him for very long, but he was always kind to me.

[mygod]

[ STOP LOOKING!!!!!! FEELING!!! WHATEVER ]

He cares about other people.

[tactic]

[ Too late. ]

I wonder if that's a trait all wizards share.

[mygod]

[ every second, aventurine grows more annoying. the vibes are indignant now. ]

No. Clearly.

[tactic]

[ STUBBORN.......... ]

Oh, come on, Essek. You may be hiding behind your mask, but your emotions are all over the place.

[mygod]

[ 😒 ]

You don't know anything about me.

[tactic]

[ 🙄 ]

How can I when you keep your cards so close to your chest?

[mygod]

Like you? I don't know anything about you either, so why would I share?

[tactic]

Oh, you're curious about me now?

[ What does he have to hide besides everything. ]

Fine. Ask me a question. I'll answer it honestly.

[mygod]

[ you stupid ho. ]

What is one of the worst things you have ever done?

[tactic]

[ He's going to actively think about this because the list is very long, but he keeps coming back to what's haunted him the most. ]

... Murdering innocent people.

[mygod]

[ hmmm. the defensiveness abates ever so slightly with what seems like may be some honesty. they don't know. maybe some people would proudly claim to murder innocent people.

they are quiet for a long moment. ]

Secretly handing over two powerful relics to a group aligned with an enemy nation simply because I wanted to know more about them.

[tactic]

[ Oh. He's surprised at being so quickly reciprocated, though his expression remains passive. ]

Did the end result work in your favor?

[mygod]

...No. At least, from what I've learned of the future, no. It is going rather poorly.

[Figured.]

You?

[tactic]

[ THATS ROUGH BUDDY... ]

Well, mine was done in order to survive, so.

[ Gestures to himself. ]

It's complicated.

[mygod]

Is it?

[???]

We have time.

[Explain your desperate homocidal tendencies.]

[tactic]

... Take off the mask first. I want to talk to the person behind it.

[ Have some MANNERS. ]

[unconsecuted]

[UGH. Annoying... A small bit of irritation bubbles up, but they reach up to carefully pull the mask from their face.

Why are you obsessed with looking at him??? YOU WEAR A FUCKING MASK ALL THE TIME AS A BOSS.

His expression is drawn into something passive, but a tad terse.]

[tactic]

[ THAT WAS WHEN HE PLAYED A VILLAIN HE'S NOT DOING THAT ANYMORE ]

Better.

[ i watched this man be such a bottom during party but anyway ]

Essek, are you a free man?

[unconsecuted]

[WELL, WHAT DO YOU THINK HE'S DOING!! also shut the fuck up yes he's a bottom

He does not answer for a long moment, white lashes low over his eyes.]

No. I have a lot of freedoms, but I am not free. I am bound by my duty to the Bright Queen and her court. And... I am bound by my secrecy with the Cerberus Assembly.

[tactic]

[ why are so many of them this way ]

So you'll understand. I'm not a free man either, and back then, I did what I had to in order to survive. When I was told to hurt people, I did.

[unconsecuted]

[He glances up to watch Aventurine, quiet.]

As did I. I am the Queen's Shadowhand. I run her investigative duties.

[...]

Which often includes torturing Empire spies in the Dungeon of Penance. If they needed to die, they died.

[tactic]

[ There is just a very careful steadiness on his emotionshare end. ]

Do you take pride in your work? Do you enjoy it?

[unconsecuted]

[Mixed emotions surface. An uncertainty.]

I take pride in my duty, but I never reveled in bloodshed. A little hypocritical to enjoy breaking enemies for sabotaging my people when I was handing two of our most sacred objects over to them.

[tactic]

Get them back.

[ JUST SAYS THIS ]