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driftfleet2015-12-12 11:31 am
lord_wizard) wrote in driftfleet2015-12-12 11:31 am
Entry tags:
commiseration [closed]
Who: Felix and Tyrion
Broadcast: Nope
Action: SS Starstruck
When: Whenever time suits
[Felix sat back against the cool wall of his room as he sat on his bed, feeling the pleasant warmth settle into his limbs. They're through at least one bottle of what might charitably be called wine sitting empty on the footlocker that's now serving as a side table, along with the leftover bits of the small meal he'd put together for the sake of playing a good host. It's much easier to pretend he isn't a bit bothered by the fact that it's partly made of protein gel when he's drunk, but at least the lemon flavor makes passable lemon bars on their own. It's also easier to pretend he's not second-guessing the offer he'd made to Tyrion, but most of the time Felix keeps the promises he makes. Or makes an effort to, at least.
They've mostly exhausted the usual pleasantries by now, and all that's left is the reason the two of them are sitting alone in his room. Usually this kind of audience leads to something else, but in a way what Tyrion was asking was far more intimate, in a way. The fact that there was a closed door between them and the rest of the ship said that they both understood that fact.
He idly refill his own glass and silently offers to do the same for his guest, considering the level of the liquid and the spares bottles as of yet unopened and how intoxicated he really has to be for this. There's a mysterious green liquid he acquired on one of the planets, but that one is only for an emergency. Depending on what secret decides to come tumbling out of his mouth, it very well might be. And that's the horrible truth of all of this - whatever story he ends up telling will likely shed light on a lie.]
Well, then...I believe since this was your idea, it should be you who begins. Your choice as to where.
Broadcast: Nope
Action: SS Starstruck
When: Whenever time suits
[Felix sat back against the cool wall of his room as he sat on his bed, feeling the pleasant warmth settle into his limbs. They're through at least one bottle of what might charitably be called wine sitting empty on the footlocker that's now serving as a side table, along with the leftover bits of the small meal he'd put together for the sake of playing a good host. It's much easier to pretend he isn't a bit bothered by the fact that it's partly made of protein gel when he's drunk, but at least the lemon flavor makes passable lemon bars on their own. It's also easier to pretend he's not second-guessing the offer he'd made to Tyrion, but most of the time Felix keeps the promises he makes. Or makes an effort to, at least.
They've mostly exhausted the usual pleasantries by now, and all that's left is the reason the two of them are sitting alone in his room. Usually this kind of audience leads to something else, but in a way what Tyrion was asking was far more intimate, in a way. The fact that there was a closed door between them and the rest of the ship said that they both understood that fact.
He idly refill his own glass and silently offers to do the same for his guest, considering the level of the liquid and the spares bottles as of yet unopened and how intoxicated he really has to be for this. There's a mysterious green liquid he acquired on one of the planets, but that one is only for an emergency. Depending on what secret decides to come tumbling out of his mouth, it very well might be. And that's the horrible truth of all of this - whatever story he ends up telling will likely shed light on a lie.]
Well, then...I believe since this was your idea, it should be you who begins. Your choice as to where.
no subject
You come from a rich family, yet you seem to have been able to hold onto at least some of your sense.
no subject
I came from an obnoxiously rich family, and it has taught me to hold on with as much of my sense as I possibly could.
no subject
One might argue it takes quite a bit of sense to recognize that in the first place. I wasn't always rich, and yet what little sense I have was far more hard-won that I would have liked.
[While his life has indeed been a string of misfortune, he could not honestly attribute all of it to luck. His own disastrous choices were also to blame for the all the pain he'd endured; fate and poor judgement weaving together into a tapestry that was his life.
There were quite a lot of things he could mention, especially on the theme of loves lost. But those stories were tangled or complicated by other facts, and on the heel of that last vague truth, the one that comes tumbling out of his mouth is one of the threads at the start of it all.]
I...was a prostitute when I was younger. My mother had been one too, though the connection is more coincidence that causality... [Skipping over his years as a kept-thief, but that was unnecessary to the tale. In any case, he carefully doesn't look directly at Tyrion when he says it, because that fact exposes him as a fraud to the man. The first person he's introduced himself to as a Lord in years. He can't help but be a little afraid of what the reaction to that will be.]
Until the man who would become my Master discovered me there, when I was fifteen. His name was Malkar Gennadion, or at least that was his name that decade. Brinvillier Strych to some, the murderer of the last Lord Protector's wife. He was a blood wizard, but I didn't know enough in the beginning to know that. Not until he bought me, took me out of the city, tutored me in magic, convinced me that he loved me, taught me to be what I am now, taught me to lie...through force, mostly. [Which was only surface to the monster that Malkar had been]
He took me back to the city and introduced me to the court of the Mirador - our palace and stronghold - and through his lies got me inducted. By then I thought I'd seen all of his cruelty. I broke away, found a new tutor, found a new lover, and got myself installed in the council. I thought I was free...[His already distant expression grows dark and pained, not just because of what comes next, but because of how much of a fool he'd been]
I did not know it until later, but I should never have been surprised at the depths of his manipulation, when he fed the truth of my identity to one of my enemies, who in turn gladly exposed me...in front of the entire court, no less. [He regrets a lot of things, but not that Robert eventually got what was coming to him, but again, that was a different story.]
In the face of that...after everyone I once regarded as friends and colleagues turned their back on me...I crawled right back to Malkar like a dog. Just as he'd planned. [His expression darkens further - a flash of anger in his eyes. It seemed he was never out of hate to spare for even the memory of that man.]
I knew it was foolish, but even in that despair I had thought it was simply done to spite me and only me. And that was the most foolish thing of all. He used me and my connection to the Mirador to break the Virtu - the keystone of all our defensive wards - and my mind along with it. It wasn't terribly difficult for him to surrender me to the court as the culprit, liar that I was.
[It's now that he finally glances towards Tyrion, haunted and uncertain] Does it bother you to know that?
no subject
He sighed as the other man finished his tale, sipping his wine again before putting his glass down.] My dear Lord Felix -- I have known men who have done much more terrible things, with the full rights of nobility behind them. I have always found that being born of the blood does not mean you are worthy of it.
sorry this took so long
Thank you for saying so...though I would not sit here and pretend I have been completely blameless. That I have not pushed the limits of my position. It is enough to say I was not quite as much a monster as he? I don't know.
[He rested his hands, glass still clutched between his fingers, contemplatively between his knees, and blinked away the tears that were threatening.]
What is it though...about that notion? Why does being born of nobility or money imply one is meant to be of better character than anyone else, when that rarely seems to be the case?
[He motioned vaguely in the other man's direction]
This is part of why we did away with kings in Marathat.
No worries!
Perhaps that is all we can ever hope to be. Lesser monsters than those who have created us.
[Mis-matched eyes look up, pensive and thoughtful at the question.]
Perhaps because it is within the thought that if you can afford the finer things, you must be a finer person. A ridiculous concept, but so many cultures share it.
[A faint smirk.]
Do you have a democracy, then? I have heard of such things.
no subject
Hardly. We simply have a monarchy with a more limited scope. The Lord Protector has advisory councils - the Cabinet and the Curia - to whom he must consult and delegate certain matters to. Each limits the grasp of the other.
no subject
[He smiled into his cup.] Now that sounds more feasible than democracy.
no subject
Feasible...perhaps, but maybe not ideal. I imagine we spent so much time curtailing our own power...managing our our affairs...that it made it harder to manage the affairs of the people we were meant to be ruling.
[He couldn't entirely blame the failings of the Marathine goverment to his own mistakes, but it didn't stop him, either.]
Then again...I've seen attempts at democracy in other places, and I can say that it could absolutely have been worse.
no subject
So what happened in this world of yours? Is it falling down or has it managed to crawl back to it's feet again, like a drunken sailor?
no subject
I can't speak for the entirety of the world. Marathat has been limping along quite successfully for the last two hundred years, unless the Kekropians succeed at pushing us over. Not for lack of trying, of course.
no subject
When you say limp ... do you mean that literally or figuratively?
no subject
[And as most things that involve wizards go, it worked as well as could be hoped for.]
But what about your world?
no subject
[His lips twitch, as he shakes his head.] Currently? We have one King, two other possible kings, and a possible Queen. Of all of them, only two have a truly strong claim.
no subject
[He settled his back against the wall again, casting a contemplative glance at the wine left in the bottle]
So, what is it? Is that simply how things are done in your world, or could your king not keep it in his trousers?
no subject
[He smirked faintly, before he sighed quietly.]
No, we have seemed to have found a new way to make politics as bloody as possible. Although Robert was quite fond of spreading his seed as far as it would go.
no subject
As hobbies a king could have would go, a love of fucking is hardly the worst one.
But that's the benefit of this place [He gestures vaguely at Tyrion and the ship as a whole] As much as you might hate it, you can always think about home and think 'at least I get a break from that insanity'.
no subject
[Is Tyrion's dry response.]
...and that is true. Honestly, my home is something close to insanity's favorite festival.
no subject
[Speaking of which...yes, he will go ahead and reach over for that other bottle. If he's lucky he'll forget what he told Tyrion about himself tomorrow]
no subject
[Was the very sensible reply, and he held his glass out with a faint smirk.]