![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
What have you done.
[ It's not phrased as a question, but it is pretty obvious what Khoriya's referring to. Poisoning the Duchess? Why— or rather, why now? How? Just what does Vax think he's doing? ]
[ It's not phrased as a question, but it is pretty obvious what Khoriya's referring to. Poisoning the Duchess? Why— or rather, why now? How? Just what does Vax think he's doing? ]
Do not give me your glib little excuses. What possessed you to- Where did you even procure poison, of all things?
I found it. [He's never been a snitch, Khoriya, and he's not about to start now.] Tell me she didn't deserve it.
Deserved- what does that matter? [ Says Khoriya, who's definitely assassinated royalty who didn't deserve it! ]
Poison is an unwieldy, unreliable weapon. If you had gotten so close, why didn't you simply cut off her head?
Poison is an unwieldy, unreliable weapon. If you had gotten so close, why didn't you simply cut off her head?
Because I wanted to have time to say goodbye if I needed to. I didn't get to do that before.
[Twice.]
[Twice.]
I don't know how to make it any clearer than that. What what?
[ He has so many questions and wants to ask none of them. Khoriya does not want to know. He does not want to care. Life would be so much blessedly easier if he could simply cease giving a damn about what certain fools did in their own fool time-!
A slow breath, and his voice has dropped to its usual toneless rumble, utterly empty of emotion. ]
What do you mean, 'say goodbye'?
A slow breath, and his voice has dropped to its usual toneless rumble, utterly empty of emotion. ]
What do you mean, 'say goodbye'?
I don't know what happens next. I don't know if they can keep me dead or just throw me somewhere and leave me. And I didn't want that to happen before I got to make sure I saw friendly faces again. There's not many here, but.
[Vax sighs.]
I wanted to see Bob again. And you.
[Vax sighs.]
I wanted to see Bob again. And you.
[ Why would you...?! Khoriya will not ask, even if he doesn't understand. Why Vax would wish to see his face, of all people, before...
His answer comes after a long moment's pause from tight jaws, every word bitten off like a chunk of bloody scrap. ]
Then why risk yourself in such a way? Why not- [ Bloody Moon damn it all! ] Why not ask for our aid in your fool's quest? Did you think I would not have given it to you?
His answer comes after a long moment's pause from tight jaws, every word bitten off like a chunk of bloody scrap. ]
Then why risk yourself in such a way? Why not- [ Bloody Moon damn it all! ] Why not ask for our aid in your fool's quest? Did you think I would not have given it to you?
Because I wasn't going to bring anyone else down with me. I'm not stupid, I know this is going to come back on all of us. But at least now everyone else can say they had no idea, and they won't be lying.
I would rather be made a liar than a fool. Do you think the mob gives a single fig who they string up, or what excuses they give for or against you? What did you hope to accomplish, going about this like some cockeyed, nut-brained-
[ Khoriya abruptly shuts up with a harsh growl. He can hear Mother's scolding tones in his own voice - what a thing to have inherited, the sharpest edge of her tongue. It is unlike him to lose control of his temper in such a way, and he does not like the growing sense of things fallen beyond his grasp and control.
And yet, what can he do? ]
I. Would ask that you tell me, before embarking on any further schemes. And allow me to grant you what aid I can. As your ally.
[ Khoriya abruptly shuts up with a harsh growl. He can hear Mother's scolding tones in his own voice - what a thing to have inherited, the sharpest edge of her tongue. It is unlike him to lose control of his temper in such a way, and he does not like the growing sense of things fallen beyond his grasp and control.
And yet, what can he do? ]
I. Would ask that you tell me, before embarking on any further schemes. And allow me to grant you what aid I can. As your ally.
[Honestly, it's not that different from getting chewed out by Vex or Pike or anyone else that gives a damn but also thinks he's a fucking idiot.]
If I'm able to embark on any more schemes after this, I promise you're my first call.
If I'm able to embark on any more schemes after this, I promise you're my first call.
[ Somehow that just doesn't feel like enough. ]
...I have found a place deep in the woods. It is well hidden, and not oft-traveled. I do not think that the mob would easily find you there, nor any but the most persistent of your pursuers.
[ And those, Khoriya feels he can deal with himself, overconfident beast that he is. ]
...I have found a place deep in the woods. It is well hidden, and not oft-traveled. I do not think that the mob would easily find you there, nor any but the most persistent of your pursuers.
[ And those, Khoriya feels he can deal with himself, overconfident beast that he is. ]
I appreciate what you want to do, that you want to keep me safe. But I'm not running, Khoriya. I would've done it by now and asked for help on the way.
[Vax feels bad shooting down that offer. It would be nice to just disappear, to go to this place and feel a little safer. Surely the two of them could pick off whoever might go that far to find him and wait this all out, but... Vax can't do that. Because if he disappears, there's no one else to blame but the entirety of the Void Touched community.]
I'm sorry, I know you want to keep me safe. I wish I could let you.
[Vax feels bad shooting down that offer. It would be nice to just disappear, to go to this place and feel a little safer. Surely the two of them could pick off whoever might go that far to find him and wait this all out, but... Vax can't do that. Because if he disappears, there's no one else to blame but the entirety of the Void Touched community.]
I'm sorry, I know you want to keep me safe. I wish I could let you.
[ Do not put words in my mouth, I want no such thing. You are a presumptuous fool, you will die alone, and you will have asked for this fate. His thoughts turn to acid upon his tongue, churn in his gut like bile, and in the black void at the heart of him, Khoriya feels a hateful stirring like the coils of some great venomous snake, coiling to bite.
So there is only a moment of dead air followed by a snarl, and then Khoriya stops answering altogether. ]
So there is only a moment of dead air followed by a snarl, and then Khoriya stops answering altogether. ]
[Vax knows he probably crossed a line, but he's not going to hold back when everything is up in the air. Khoriya can be angry with him, that's fine. He gets it. He would've walked away, too.
He doesn't say goodbye. Maybe ending on an apology is the best he can do.]
He doesn't say goodbye. Maybe ending on an apology is the best he can do.]
Why in the Bloody Moon did you not call to me say something about those damned... zlatniki sooner?
[ Why did Khoriya have to learn about what had happened there and then in the hall, fur bristling and hands clenched, knowing better than to speak or interrupt but unable to quell the fury that had risen like molten lava within him. ]
[ Why did Khoriya have to learn about what had happened there and then in the hall, fur bristling and hands clenched, knowing better than to speak or interrupt but unable to quell the fury that had risen like molten lava within him. ]
What do you think?
I think you would've either done something stupid or blame yourself for not doing anything at all, even though you couldn't. Because that's what I would've done.
[ wow he hates to be called out like this. how VERY dare. ]
Would it have been stupid to want to spare you some harm? I would not allow the Duchess or her damned lackeys to make a... a whipping post out of you!
Would it have been stupid to want to spare you some harm? I would not allow the Duchess or her damned lackeys to make a... a whipping post out of you!
You couldn't have spared it, Khoriya. I don't know where I was and I wasn't there for long. And then it was over and I woke up in the clinic.
[ He gets it, he does. ]
I don't think there was an actual whip was involved, so there's that.
[ He gets it, he does. ]
I don't think there was an actual whip was involved, so there's that.
[ dead silence for a long moment, but if vax listens hard he might catch the sound of khoriya's teeth grinding. ]
Even so. [ every word bitten off with clipped precision, short and curt, a creature laboriously picking its way through a maze of verbal traps. ] Even so, I would that you...
[ -might tell me, if nothing else. Let me look after you, soothe you in what small ways I could.
he cannot bring himself to say it. to sound so pitiful, a dog begging for scraps. vax doesn't want his concern and khoriya should know better than to offer it. his futile gestures embarrass them both. ]
...Nevermind. You have the right of it. [ he has his weakness under better control now, almost sounds like himself again - cold and dispassionate, empty of emotion. ]
Even so. [ every word bitten off with clipped precision, short and curt, a creature laboriously picking its way through a maze of verbal traps. ] Even so, I would that you...
[ -might tell me, if nothing else. Let me look after you, soothe you in what small ways I could.
he cannot bring himself to say it. to sound so pitiful, a dog begging for scraps. vax doesn't want his concern and khoriya should know better than to offer it. his futile gestures embarrass them both. ]
...Nevermind. You have the right of it. [ he has his weakness under better control now, almost sounds like himself again - cold and dispassionate, empty of emotion. ]
Page 1 of 13