8th Card [written]

[legacydeck]

It's always a little irritating to only understand a divination in hindsight, though I suppose that's the nature of the beast. For what it's worth - I would advise against scrying on the castle, if you have the ability. And I think our losses are going to prove near-impossible to retrieve.


[Filtered to Howl]
Your castle, however, appears perfectly safe at the moment.



[Filtered to Felix]

I think we ought to talk.

Comments

[lord_wizard]

It's not just about blood-magic.

[legacydeck]

Being like him at all, then? Or I suppose now, like me - though I'd be the first to warn you of that.

[lord_wizard]

Would you? Is there something I should know?

[legacydeck]

I'm selfish, whimsical, stubborn, too smart for my own good, and prone to doing things just to see if I can - and that's what my friends would say about me.

[lord_wizard]

[A slightly humorless laugh]

I think we are more of a pair than you are akin to my master. I'm not sure you could understand the cruelty he was capable of. That dream barely scratched the surface.

[legacydeck]

I'm three hundred years old - I've seen plenty of the cruelty that both wizards and 'annemer' can do to each other.

[He sighs slightly]

I was not lying, when I said I've killed wizards like him, and if you wished to tell the rest of Chimera that, I wouldn't hold it against you. In some parts of my world, magic is an open secret, and relatively accepted. In others... it was feared for a long time, in part because of the sorts of things blood-mages and their ilk do. They used to kill suspected magic-users - many of whom possessed no degree of actual magic - frequently by burning them alive, or in some cases by being tortured to death.

Perhaps there is no 'right' reason to kill - but I saw the greater good of all of humanity at risk.

[lord_wizard]

If I exposed you, I might as well tell them the same about me. I killed him, you know...back in my world. And for no noble intentions, except for my desire to be rid of him.

[legacydeck]

I've seen what blood-mages do to their... 'apprentices'. [And he knows that it's usually more like 'slave' than 'apprentice']

If he used your brother as well... most would say you have far more right for your actions than I ever did.

[lord_wizard]

A reason, perhaps, but not a right. It was my fault Malkar got his hands on him in the first place. I should have kept him safe, but instead I used him like a weapon.

[legacydeck]

[Clow resists the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration, because this has somehow turned into a debate of who had more guilt on their shoulders, and he really isn't in the mood for this]

Well, for what it's worth, I do not think you're a terrible, irredeemable person, and I suspect the other mages would feel the same. But the past is just that - past. I am happy to respect your wishes to let it remain that way.

[lord_wizard]

Good.

[He colored a little, though some of that having sunk through the wall of anger he was constructing around himself. Of course he couldn't have run from it forever.]

Is that what you came out here to say to me?

[legacydeck]

More or less. I wanted to make sure you hadn't run off to do something foolish, either.

[lord_wizard]

[And that gets a wince from him, because of how well Clow knew that to be a legitimate concern, and he stared down at his shoes]

Whoever stole the castle's alcohol reserves did me the favor of removing at least one catalyst for that.

[legacydeck]

I suspect that if they hadn't, you would not be the only one getting outrageously drunk today. I might have even considered doing so, though I find getting drunk is usually just a waste of good wine.

[lord_wizard]

Generally I'd agree, but...[He waves the rest of it away with a sigh]

Malkar is a topic of discussion I had hoped to avoid, but even here it seems I cannot be rid of him. Ashura doesn't even know about him. For all of his life experience, he cannot even begin to comprehend what that was like.

[legacydeck]

I'd imagine not. I suspect even I can't fully understand, for all that I've met a number of blood-mages, and talked with their 'apprentices'. [...After he killed their masters]

[lord_wizard]

Few people can. [Like Fenris had, and without ever really speaking about it, except to utter his name in fear. Or Mildmay. Though it'd taken experiencing it for himself to truly know]

[legacydeck]

Mmm. Well, I assume you'd prefer some more time alone? [Because he's said what he came to say]

[lord_wizard]

I'll talk to you later, Clow...

[Which was as gentle of a dismissal as he felt up to at the moment, and then turned away to finish what he'd been doing]

[legacydeck]

Of course.

[And he'll give Felix a small nod with that, and leave him be]