Private Messaging Inbox (Ryslig)

[dragonspride]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, BARONSDRAGON. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 081.38.173.20 *** BARONSDRAGON has joined 081.38.173.20 <BaronsDragon> this probably isn't that secure <BaronsDragon> but at least it's not completely public to everyone

Comments

[chaosgeneral]

Now you know why I'm out for revenge.

[No, seriously, he's hoping that the implications from what was said are going to be enough for Kain to do the math.]

[dragonspride]

[Kain gives Valgaav a long, dry stare for that one.]

That tells me nothing about what the current situation is. [And no, he's not budging.] I am clearly being drug into this, and a Dragoon Knight does not strike blind; you are going to explain who 'Lina Inverse' is and exactly what happened.

[Cagnazzo kind of drove home the more metaphorical form of that bit of the code and all.]

[chaosgeneral]

[Naturally, the first thought is some bitter retort about how he doesn't need Kain to fight his battles for him. Though, there's also a moment's pause.

What the hell did Kain even MEAN by getting drug into it? This wasn't his fight!

No matter, the dragoon wasn't going to move until he'd heard what he considered to be enough, so..]

Lina Inverse is an extremely powerful sorceress. One who'd managed to defeat a dark god. She and her companions fought with My Lord and defeated him. My Lord is dead. I want revenge.

What more do you want from me?!

[That last part coming out as a cross between a growl and a hiss.

Yes, this is a sore subject.]

[dragonspride]

[There are several things here where he knows there's a few uncomfortable glass houses he might have to face, albeit depending on how certain parties would side and act if they were here, and moot as long as said parties weren't.]

[And...it didn't really look like the other side of this was exactly hunting Valgaav down or trying to continue this. Even if they were, it was pretty obvious Val wasn't thinking things through to the point of suicide.]

[His expression had, at least, sobered more tired.]

Would Gaav want you charging around recklessly and getting yourself killed?

[chaosgeneral]

[There is so much affront, and this urge to sharply shoot back with "DON'T YOU DARE BRING THAT ARGUMENT INTO THINGS"...But, he can't deny that Kain is actually right.

Curse you, Kain. Curse you, Kain, and the shore you washed up on.

He diverts his gaze.]

...No.

[dragonspride]

[Which...is about what he'd expected; someone who'd put part of their essence into scraping up a kid wouldn't be treating them as disposable, no matter what they were.]

Then you might want to calm down and be more careful - I'm sure after as much as he did to make sure you lived, that he'd rather you do well by yourself than throw your life away for revenge.

[He gives a half-beat there.] And if you were angry enough to attack one of your own allies with their own weapon, and risk screwing yourself out of a place to live, nevermind if I had been petty enough to kill you for it...

[There's a distinct Look there, and he's giving you a minute to think that one over.]

[chaosgeneral]

[Yeah, that gaze is being focused off to the side, glaring silently at the air because Kain HAD to bring that annoyin logic thing into this, didn't he?

That only made him angrier, really. But, this time it was an inwardly-directed anger. The kind that'll probably be chewing on him for awhile.]

[dragonspride]

[Oh, he knows that one well enough.]

[Kain's stuck relying on his wings again, using the wing claws as awkward bat-limbs to shift weight and let Valgaav up; it's not a very graceful motion and there's a thin hiss of pain as he jars his splinted legs, shifting to sort-of prop sitting up with the spear; once he's sort-of upright, the wing-claws are planted firmly on the ground beside him, helping with support and making up for the missing arm.]

Is there anyone else here you'd recognize? Besides Gourry.

[Tactical concern questions were the next order of business now that Valgaav was calmed down, or at least not raging around picking fights. Someone else that has a working memory would raise the question of that grudge going both ways; Gourry...just isn't on Kain's threat radar.]

[chaosgeneral]

[After grumpily sitting up and brushing himself off, he reluctantly answers Kain.]

I know that Lina Inverse is here. She's part snake.

Alternately, there's that one bird-brat girl. Chirpy, postures and preaches about Justice, short..

[dragonspride]

[He's not sure how many Naga there are, and the only one he'd recognize on sight is Jetstorm. The OTHER description, however, gets Kain closing his eyes with a despairing, quiet rumble and a grimace.]

Great, we'll get speeched to death. [At least Amelia didn't seem like she was the sort to come after either of them, or go for blood, really.]

Would Lina be inclined to pursue a grudge here?

[He had a pretty good idea of the general abilities of a Naga from Jet, although what he'd managed to glean of their main weakness from the ex-robot's complaints didn't really help; his powers were the opposite of channeling cold, and he'd had Jet practically cuddle up to leech heat when he knew he was outputting enough to burn most people.]

[chaosgeneral]

[Well, actually, more like Lina didn't even know who he was. And they argued a whole lot and the ritual didn't get completed because she was stronger than him and having none of it and then they burned to death and then Valgaav came storming back to pick a fight with Kain and--..

Goddamnit Dragoon stop bringing logic into this.]

..Maybe not.

[Yes that reply is as reluctant as one would expect.]

[dragonspride]

[That's a moment of partial relief.] How solid of a maybe? [Part of this is "Goddamnit Valgaav think"; the other part of it is still the tactical concern that you know... living space. Defensibility and likelihood of an attack. He's suspecting they're not very inclined to bother, but there is a "just in case".]

It doesn't look like they've been looking for you, but I also haven't met Lina to guess, although I suspect if they were left be here, Amelia would probably get in the way of Lina instigating anything. [He has a quiet pause, running a claw down the shaft of the spear.] I don't expect you to just forget about Gaav, there's just enough threats here to deal with, without starting extra fights that could've been avoided.

[With the Fog God and other things that've gone on, a grudge match like that would be running the risk of losing the more immediate fights.]

[chaosgeneral]

Fine. I'll try not to start anything.

Like you said, if anyone who knew about me was likely to make their move, it would have happened already.

[dragonspride]

You're also going to be more vulnerable until you're fully changed. [Which he's sure Val doesn't want to think about too much, but it's a tactical concern; especially after the display of "getting pinned by a badly wounded gargoyle", it was pretty obvious Val was likely to get schooled hard if he got into a fight with another monster.]

And I didn't take you in to see you end up dead like that.

[chaosgeneral]

[And that? That gets the stupefied look. That sort of vacant, confused look like this was some kind of strange revelation.

...Or probably just something he needed to hear more often. But he was hardly going to admit to that.]

[dragonspride]

[If he really was the only survivor, and there wasn't much else than Gaav, then...]

[Kain's well aware that a huge part of what grounded him into something more sane was Cecil and Rosa; to not have something like that, particularly through something as bad as that, did explain far too much about Valgaav - and from what the kid has said, he was back to nothing.]

What? Were you expecting me to keep someone in my household in a place like this and not care about what happened to them?

[...Not that he was necessarily good at expressing anything like that.]

[chaosgeneral]

It's a sentiment that I don't often hear directed at me. That's all.

[And with that, his gaze is diverted. You're probably not going to get a straight answer out of him on that one, but the answer provided is probably more than enough.]

[dragonspride]

[Him as a teenager, but worse off. Yep.]

[He shifts his weight slightly, something that would've been resting his chin on a hand if the hand were still there to work with.]

...Do you have anything to go back to, in your world?

[chaosgeneral]

[Now there's a question he hadn't actually thought about.

Honestly, other than his plan to try to summon a dark god from another realm?

...Not really. Gilas told him that Gravos was dead. Gilas was always more Gravos' subordinate than directly under him.

Almayce had outright betrayed him..

...And there's that depressing realization that all he's really got waiting for him back home is an approval-seeking fox and a lot of enemies. More than here, in fact.]

..Not particularly.

[dragonspride]

[And that...is something where Kain goes quiet for a moment, eyes closed; if they're still alive, he knows Cecil and Rosa would not only accept an adoption like this but probably encourage it.]

[if.]

...If it's still there, then when this is over, you'd have a place back in Baron. [And he knows he's quoted his title around Valgaav before for that name to be familiar.] And if it isn't, then I'm going to be stranded here anyway myself.

1/2

[chaosgeneral]

2/2

[chaosgeneral]

You're on.

[dragonspride]

[And lo, Kain ended up with his teenager-wrangling showing itself seventeen years early, with an adoption, and a significantly harder case than an even-tempered, good-natured kid with some personal insecurity from being overshadowed by heroic parents.]

[And it was a massive relief after all the rest of that chaos, and after the rest of Kain's month, because seriously, his life has kind of sucked this month, even if he'd normally have found Victor and Jetstorm bickering vaguely amusing.]

If that's settled, then...

[And you know, Val isn't going to try to attack him again and all. Or give him an immediate reason to worry. He's pretty sure there's going to be others later.] Everything go alright?

[So his sacrifice mess was a bit of a shitshow, but you know, it worked, so...]

[chaosgeneral]

Fine. It went Fine.

[dragonspride]

[...Well, that's worth a small wince, since that kinda points towards "it went worse than floundering around aggravating injuries, fusing splints together, and having to explain what a virgin was to an ex-robot".]

...Well. At least it's over.

[Please let the ghosts not feel like being that angry next year. Or at least let more of the monsters be aware that you know, angry ghosts don't care about their opinions on the matter.]