Private Conversations with the Lady

[soulspice]

[Welcome to the Lady's...not home far from home, but it's a place she tolerates. The moment you enter it's clear she did her best to make this office in the bookstore a place she approves.

Outfitted with an overly plush chair on a rather elaborate rug, the desk is overflowing with countless books stacked everywhere, with everything serving as a makeshift bookshelf including an errant fax machine. The Lady seems to have tried her best to make the amenities up to her standards: there’s a tray with a teapot, notes everywhere written with confusing ciphers, and what seems to be an attempt to make a generator, but wasn’t completed.

Where the Lady sits it’s far more orderly, facing the door and giving her the high ground against anyone who enters. On the far wall hangs a large portrait of the Lady, adding character and additional charm. Truly, this is the office of someone who wants you to feel small before her presence.

And, there on her chair, there she is. When the door opened she turned her head towards you, seeing who it was. Invariably of who it is, she sighs like this is a big interruption of her work, and keeps writing and drawing]

Don't touch anything and make sure you don't track mud in. If you have any complaints go see Rembrandt.

[She didn't even look up while saying that. So, what brings you to her office today?]

Comments

[soulspice]

Only in this city or do other worlds count for the tally?

[She doesn't even hesitate before answering that]

[drydrown]

Give separate tallies if you like. One assuming other worlds don't count, one assuming they do.

[soulspice]

Counting all the worlds involved...I have lost count by now.

[She moves a finger in circles in the air -- the gesture meant to encompass the entirety of Krakow, apparently:]

Do you think the city was empty when I arrived?

[drydrown]

[Ah, that's fun. He laughs a little at that, though the sound is odd. Not nervous, but not particularly pleased, either.]

The city being empty doesn't mean that all of its inhabitants are dead, now, does it? I've done a rather good job of population control in Heliord, you know, and those filthy commoners aren't all dead. Just repurposed. Some people make better resources than they do citizens.

[soulspice]

I have no use for a city's worth of people in this world, and if I don't have an use for something, I get it out of my sight.

[She idly traces with a finger the lines of one of the many diagrams on her desk]

The city is what I need. The people are useless.

[drydrown]

[All right, well, that's. Sure. You know what, why not. It takes him a brief moment to center himself again but you know what, it's not like he cares about what happens to a bunch of people in a world that isn't his? So okay, awesome, everybody's dead. He tosses his head a bit, flicking his hair back over his shoulder.]

I'd be lying if I said I'd never done similar. After all, only a few people are really important in this world anyway.

[Fuck his life.]

You said you didn't specifically choose us, we just survived. Did you happen to try bringing others from our worlds as well? Because if you did, there's one specific person I'd want to ask if you know anything about.

[soulspice]

I'll have to check my notes but sure, go ahead. Ask.

[drydrown]

[With his profile looking the way it does, it might make sense to assume he wants to know about his sister. By all rights he probably should ask about Mimura, he should want to at least know if there's a chance she's okay- ]

Alexei Dinoia. Commandant of the Imperial Knights, and my direct superior officer.

[oh for fuck's sake, cumore.]

[soulspice]

[Pfft, sisters, who needs them.

The Lady takes out of a drawer a rather thick notebook, filled with so many pages it's about to burst. Opening it on one of the first pages, she searcheswith her finger, tutting until she finally finished searching]

A...A...nope, nothing here. I didn't touch him.

[drydrown]

[...For a weird moment there, he looks sort of like he wants to yell at her or otherwise act out in some way, you can almost visibly see his temper flare up for a brief moment because woman, what is even the point of you-

But he reins it back in. Give him a moment.]

He wouldn't be worth your time anyway.

[Nailed it.]

One more thing, if you don't mind?

[soulspice]

[The Lady raises her visible eyebrow, having noticed a sudden tension in the air. Huh. Did she touch a nerve? That was purely an accident.

'HAH! I don't know what I did but...hah, anyway. Right? It still counts?' she thinks]

Agreed. He lacked...something...

[The word trails off, like she's unsure how to word what she's actually thinking]

Go ahead. I'm not going to charge you per question, ask as many things as you wannt.

[drydrown]

Perhaps not, but I know better than to use up one's goodwill, especially when we got off to such a rough start.

[It's not an apology for picking on her or for being so sarcastic towards her during the meeting. But the tone is clear, hopefully there's not an abundance of hard feelings.]

You mentioned something about taking on those who prove themselves to you. Just how might we go about doing that? In the interest of curiosity.

[soulspice]

Oooh, interested?

[She smiles sardonically. Oh, Cumore, you're enchanting, she thinks]

I'm an opportunistic woman. If I see something I like, I take it. If by the end of this ordeal you're still alive and intact, I don't see why not to offer you a good spot in the high ranks. I'm always in need of competent generals and political allies -- the good and loyal help tends to die so often.

[And half of those times is by her own hand]

It'd involve you never returning to your world because I'd take you to mine, but some would see that as a feature, I'm sure.

[drydrown]

We'll have to see how things are after I've survived this, then.

[So yeah, no promises.]

I just believed it would be prudent to ask. In the name of opportunism and all.

[soulspice]

Oh, don't worry. For you I'm letting you choose. I don't mind if you decide to refuse the offer.

[Unlike with Dist, who she has already decided is going to join her no matter what]