unseelie; video.

[survivra]

They're going to take our power, one by one, and the lives of everyone here. I don't consent to live like this. I don't know about worlds being eaten in our homes or being born again later, and I don't care. Our lives are being ended as they are now.

I don't like to kill needlessly, but it will keep happening—if you meet someone who wants to let that thing destroy everything, including you, then you should find your chance and stick a blade into their heart.

[ she hurls her locket at the wall, and the video hits its target and shuts down. ]

Comments

[uneulogized]

Are you kidding me? [He definitely takes it as a confrontational statement. It's just the kind of guy he is.]

Last I checked, I may be the only one who's offered Morla any prizes lately. And I'm planning on keeping it up. [Especially now that he has some protection.

He'll touch on the other stuff in a moment. Maybe.]

[survivra]

You mean shards. [ Right? She's certain. ] I have a few in mind I'd like to give our lady queen. One in particular.

[uneulogized]

That's exactly what I mean. I learned back home the hard way that a lot of people aren't, and will never be, prepared to get their hands dirty. [Her reply at least takes him off the defensive, so he relaxes here.] Maybe it's a stretch, but it sounds like you learned that lesson along the way, too.

As for shards, you got a name? Or is that your whole secret vendetta? [He's mostly just curious.]

[survivra]

[ She shrugs and something briefly changes in her expression. ]

A lot of people prefer to let others get their hands dirty for them. It doesn't matter. The man I need to face is a knight of the Golden Cadre—Tarz. And likely he knows it as well as I.

[uneulogized]

[His voice takes an edge as he says these following words:]

I'm more used to the school of people who believe they're above getting their hands dirty. Like there's a whole other solution available. There isn't.

Here—[this is where his voice relaxes. Jason likes to make sure the dramatics go through every aspect of his speech, making fluctuations through each part of what he says. He likes to hold someone's attention.]—here, there aren't as many like that.

Guys like Tarz, they make that obvious. I met him once. Seeing him rot would do everyone a world of good.

[survivra]

Sometimes there is another solution. [ The doubt in her voice and on her face is obvious even as she says it: Katsa is struggling to remember this, but it has been difficult lately. ] And it should be taken when it is, but it's not a thing that exists in every situation.

[ She struggles for her next response, screwing up her face and biting the inside of her cheek, before she finally explodes with her anger. ]

And people think he's worth following, that he's a champion for that nonsense about love and duty when he's happy to kill people in the dirt, with no defenses, and use his power for nothing but to hurt others. Tarz must die—him, more than anyone else. And I'll see to it.

[uneulogized]

[But sometimes, he doesn't want to acknowledge other solutions. Here, he only finds evidence supporting a harsher, more ruthless approach. He also knows that he isn't taking it. He isn't killing blindly and without remorse. He hasn't killed Nico, even when he could have gutted the boy and tossed Hiro aside to make him watch.

For Jason, it's never about the indiscriminate nature of it. And for those who want it to end, it becomes easier. From what he's found, it still isn't clear that the more recent batch of Seelie shardbearers know what it is they're fighting for. Even his research in their territory seemed to confirm that theory. Kindness, after all, doesn't lead one to hitting a handy red button to end it all. And damn that kindness.

Still, he's not willing to talk about open-ended solutions. He'd rather seem adamant, so he drops that thread of thought, preferring to bash a man he's heard mention of and has fought once, but briefly. It hadn't been much of a fight, but it had been one (of many) wake up calls. Tarz first taught him how weak he truly was in this world. (Gilgamesh had followed.)]

Taking him out would do a hell of a number on morale. For both of us.

I don't see how a florid speaking jackass is worth following, but they're easily duped over there. It's a trend.

[survivra]

Yes, and maybe they simply don't see it—

[ Her temper is boiling again. It's been bursting over a lot lately; that's as terrifying to her as anything else. ]

—but how? What are they telling them? I know that there's magic that can control a person's thoughts and memories. Is that how they're doing it?

[uneulogized]

Some of them do it to save themselves. Some of them would rather run neutral than to turn to our side and cause. As if we're worse. Part of it is how they dress us up, and if they saw our conversation right now, what do you think they'd think?

Oh, those Unseelie—that's exactly what I heard they were like.

We're the monsters. Easy to not be on the side of monsters.

[survivra]

...What is it that we're like?

[ Katsa swallows, and her anger suddenly seems to deflate. ]

If a monster stops behaving like a monster, even for a little while—is it still a monster, when it doesn't act like it? Or is it only inevitable that it comes back to being one, since it could never truly change what it is?

[uneulogized]

The potential is always what matters. Our potential is greater than theirs.

Why save the world when we go down with it?

[It's ... a rather dramatic statement, but he's giving in to the moment.]

[survivra]

Our potential for being monsters, you mean?

[ she snorts. ]

That's a funny idea that they have. So much for caring about others, and all their ideals.

[uneulogized]

[After a moment:]

That's my impression, anyway. Tarz called me a dog, it was the first clue I had. It's what I've heard, too.

It's why we're bad. And why they're kind.

All of it adds up to hypocrisy in the end.

[survivra]

He calls you that, and he's the one who beat me like one.

[ Her tone is exactly as bitter as the statement sounds. Physical power has always been Katsa's one reliable constant in life, the means to her own protection. When she had been stripped of that in a way she never had been before—well, it wasn't very comforting. ]

He didn't even look at me while he did. Next time I see him and the rest, I'll spit in his face before ripping his eyes from his head.

[uneulogized]

Not a bad plan.

[There's a beat.]

Do you know Grell? She knew a fair bit about him. She may be able to help you in that endeavor. [Frankly, he'd provide the information himself, but he has the feeling Katsa would like it directly from the source, rather than filled with his own perspective of how to take care of him.]

Information-wise, of course.

[After all, his delivery to the monarchs and barons had been an advice manual as much as it was information on their enemies. From what Hiro had told him, Katsa doesn't really need advice on anything.]

[survivra]

I know the Lady Grell a little.

[ This is surprising. She speaks slowly, somewhat caught off guard by the suggestion in the middle of her fury. Well. Perhaps she could make use of that. ]

I'll ask her for what she knows and make use of it as much as I can. [ Katsa assumes there isn't much or perhaps someone might have already tried to make a move against him, but perhaps there is something that only she can do. ] Nobody is without weakness.

[ ... ]

Thank you for that.

[uneulogized]

Of course. If you can find a way to strengthen your shard, you'll have an advantage. [That's his piece of information. He can't say much more, given that he knows the location of such secrets, but he imagines training is in order for all of them.]

Have the strength to fuel what you feel.

And when you take that bastard down—it isn't much, but I'll buy you a drink. Then again, it's gonna be one of many, if what I've heard is right.

[survivra]

I know how to use it. I'll keep training it. I'll make it as much my own strength as my Grace, and I must be able to control them both to maintain the highest reaches of my skill.

[ She does not know how what she feels can give her strength, as blinding as those emotions are to her. But perhaps that's what he means. Maybe she doesn't need to hold them back to control them; perhaps she needs to learn to use them.

...It's something to consider. ]

People always die when I mean to kill. Sometimes even when I don't. Keeping him from harming others will be enough for me, but I'll be glad for the drink nonetheless.

[uneulogized]

[It's precisely what he feels. Jason doesn't feel as if anger is meant for everyone. For Clarke last summer, it had blinded her so completely that she lost herself in it. But from what he's learned from this brief conversation, Katsa is different.

Jason is like that. He might not always show it, but there's a constant, low boiling anger prepared to last out. He's emotionally unsteady, and it's that unsteadiness that guides him. He's like a fuse waiting to be lit, and he considers that a part of who he is. There is something darker to it all, but it's who he is; there is no changing it now.]

Be thorough. Mean it. [From what he's learned, Tarz would not be so easily stopped given his arsenal. Any of his enemies will have to go all out.]

And message me when it's over. I'm good for it.

[He considers adding something more, something from what Hiro had told her. Something to add flame to her fire about her life before this place, but he realizes he shouldn't have been privy to that knowledge.

And if she's going to teach Hiro, then it's better that she doesn't know that. He'll have to remind him not to spill that information to just about anyone.]

[survivra]

[ As though she were ever anything but thorough. As though she could look at Tarz and feel that he deserved mercy more than Randa, and feel that there were any justification in letting him continue to live if she ever had the chance to make it otherwise. Katsa does not respond. But her face is coldly set, and she nods at Jason before ending the conversation.

She is glad for what they have discussed—almost grateful. She feels better now, and she is determined to be able to tell Jason that she has done the deed. ]