022515MerrowThiago

 -- transchronicAllegorator [TA] began trolling aspiringArchon [AA] at 02:13 --

 [02:13] TA: My prince...

 [02:14] TA: ((Wait

 [02:14] TA: ((this can be in person

 [02:14] TA: ((so lets do that

 [02:14] TA: -

 [02:14] TA: Thiago knocks on Merrow's door.

 [02:14] AA: (( Merrow is actually in Acenia's chambers. ))

 [02:14] TA: ((oh))

 [02:14] AA: (( Actually, I guess they can move to Merrows this time ))

 [02:14] AA: (( Just to make things easier ))

 [02:14] TA: ((okay))

 [02:15] AA: You hear some muffled voices and some fumbling on the other side of the door, and Merrow comes to the door, steps out, and quickly closes the door behind him as though trying to afford privacy to some other occupant still within.

 [02:16] TA: Thiago is kneeling on the ground. "My prince..."

 [02:16] TA: "I have come to ask your forgiveness. I've crossed you."

 [02:16] AA: "Thiago. I am surprised you still consider me your prince. Last I heard you had found a different liege to follow." His voice is flat.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:17] TA: "Everything I've done has been in your name, My prince."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:17] TA: "I swear."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:17] TA: His voice shakes a bit.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:19] AA: "Oh?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:19] AA: "Do go on."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:20] TA: "My prince, having seen Jack's capabilities first hand you..." He breathes in uneasilly. "You never stood a chance at beating Jack to the primer."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:20] TA: "Jack's completion of the primer takes Herald's target off. / You are no longer at risk from another strong twink."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:22] TA: "I helped him in order to protect you, my prince, and yet, / I have insulted you."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:22] TA: His head bows deeper. "And for that I beg forgiveness."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:22] AA: "If I had not chosen the wrong denizen, I believe I *would* have beaten him, in fact."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:22] AA: "Perhaps he was holding back, but that's irrelevant."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:24] AA: Merrow sighs. "I have suspected for some time now that it would come down to a challenge versus one or both of the male twinks. And that the Herald was the more powerful combatant, though Jack was likely the more dangerous opponent. These events have not changed that. I seam to have some time to grow strong enough to face them now."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:25] AA: "But I am forced to ask you the same thing I asked Lily. If you were doing this for my benefit, why did you not come to me ahead of time? Why did you not inform me of your plan?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:26] TA: "I fear, your majesty, that if you had won the primer... / Herald would have simply killed you himself, that I'm certain." He sighs. "I pray you not think me as self-centered or otherwise..." Thiago stands up. "But if there's anyone I can trust in this game, it's you."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:27] TA: Thiago pulls out his character sheet and holds it to his chest.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:27] TA: "If it looked like I was really working for you, my prince, / I fear Jack would not have rewarded us shenanicite."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:28] TA: "As it happens, he has given us our greatest weapon." Thiago presents the character sheet to Merrow."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:28] TA: no "*

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:28] AA: Merrow crosses his arm and "harrumphs." "I doubt he ever suspected Acenia had his loyalty."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:29] AA: He thinks about it for a moment then sighs. "I will allow that her reasons for complicity were obvious though."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:29] TA: "She is and forever will be loyal to you, my prince." He reassures him, still presenting the sheet.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:30] AA: "Oh, I never suspected otherwise." Merrow takes the proferred sheet. "What is it you are trying to show me here?" He examines it.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:30] TA: Thiago scoots over to the side of him and somewhat sheepishly points out his title.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:31] TA: "Once a page, now a Lord."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:31] AA: Merrow reads it, then his eyes narrow, and he looks up at Thiago. "How...?

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:31] TA: "As I said sir, Shenanicite."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:32] AA: "A curious development." He strokes his chin. "The Denezin of LOBAB was also a Lord."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:32] AA: "And the Denezin of LOGAM a Muse."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:32] TA: "I have heard similar things, perhaps they are doomed to that."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:33] AA: "So the power of the Denezins, at least, is within the reach of players."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:33] TA: Thiago nods.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:33] AA: "Obviously the powers of the twinks must be as whale, but they have had time that we have not."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:34] AA: "And I do not know if even as a Prince of Time I have time to outpace Jack and the Herald. This is a very interesting piece of information."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:34] AA: "But the denezin of LOBAB said that there was alwaves a Muse for every Lord. Do you know who your Muse is?"

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:34] TA: Thiago breathes in.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:35] TA: "That is for her to decide to tell you, My prince. Sorry."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:35] AA: Merrow grunts.\

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:35] TA: "Suffish to say, Jack could kill us all right now if he wants."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:36] TA: "And I mean it. Faster than it takes for you to blink once."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:36] AA: "Possibly. I am still not shore what his game is, though. Why he is protecting Acenia and claiming to support our matespriteship whale taunting me behind her back."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:37] TA: "It's all a game to him, sir."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:37] AA: "Very likely."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:38] AA: "But the question is what the rules to this game are. And what he considers a victory. And whether we have any chance of beating him in it."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:38] AA: "The veterans did. Assuming his death was not part of his plan in the first place."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:39] TA: "As far as I can tell, rules are nothing to him at all."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:40] AA: "And yet, he abided by the terms of our contest. He could easily have prevented me from ever using my Time powers, and yet he did not."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:40] AA: "I imagine he could have done so even without slowing down his completion of Acenia's primer."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:40] TA: Thiago humms in thought.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:41] AA: "A game without rules is not a game, Thiago."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:41] TA: "He wants a challenge."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:41] AA: "It is possible he is playing by different rules than what we believe the rules to be, but if he is indeed playing with us then there must be some unwritten rules by which he is abiding."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:43] TA: Thiago nods. "You could say he's being quite... fishy?" He smirks.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:46] AA: "Very."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:47] TA: "Still, if he wants a challenge we will give it to him now."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:48] AA: "Hmm. Maybe. I intend to stack the odds FAR in my favor before I challenge him, however. I will not make the mistake of underestimating him. I have sean evidence of the powers of our forbears, and if Jack was strong enough to face them all at once, I am not reckless enough to think that a shrimple title change will be enough to make us his match."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:48] AA: "It is worth keeping in mind, however."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:49] TA: Thiago bows. "I hope I can show you I am worth trusting, My prince."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:50] AA: "I do as whale, Thiago. Revealing this information to me is certainly a step in the right direction. I am not shore I have fully forgiven you yet, however."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:50] AA: "Regardless of the futility of my quest, it hurt to lose to Jack."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:51] AA: "And it hurt to sea my subjects siding with him, regardless of their intentions."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:51] TA: "I understand the pain of losing to a rival, sir." He bows again. "I would not inflict that lightly upon you, I promise."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:52] AA: "Thank you Thiago. I hope in time I can come to trust you fully again. But it will not be immediate."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:53] TA: "Of course." He gestures to Merrow's room. "I will leave you to your better half, My prince. Hmm?" Thiago smiles.

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:56] AA: Merrow nods and gives a faint smile. "Yes. Good day, Thiago."

<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"> [02:57] TA: "Good Day, your majesty."Thiago turns on his heel smartly, as if a soldier, and heads back to his room.