come_sailaway | 10th Contraption: Mawwiage

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10th Contraption: Mawwiage

Who: John Watson, Johnny Summer, and César Salazar with Rich Goranski, Fio, and Honoria Crabb AND YOU Oh god why are weddings like this
What: The throuple getting married by... the Captain?!
When: December 11th at 7pm
Where: John's
Warnings: I believe in us! But for now, nothing.

SEATING

John's has been transformed, the seating up front rearranged in rows towards the center dias with an aisle down the middle, the piano moved off to one side. The buffet for later can be seen off to the other. Decorations taken from Spirit Halloween appear here and there–flowers taken from cavalera flower crowns, sun and moon candlestick holders from the tarot collection, festively colored tablecloths draped down the walls like curtains or banners. A sign near the entrance says "seat yourself", although the front row on one side is reserved with a ribbon across the backs.

What can't be seen is who is officiating. Or the husbands, but at least that part makes sense. The dais is empty.

THE CEREMONY

As one of the few traditions in this wedding, music announces the start of the ceremony. Rich strolls in first, trying to look professional even if he’s clearly shaking a bit as he holds the small pillow with the rings laid on it. At least he’s dressed quite smartly, Johnny ensuring his red suit is wrinkle free and his cuff links are set in place. Fio, in a winged black dress and flowery headdress, follows after the ring bearer, adorning the path with paper petals as she moves along.

The first husband to be down the aisle is none other than Johnny, in a smart charcoal grey suit with a goldenrod pocketsquare, gold jewelry, and a wreath of orange blossoms on his head; and accompanied by Honoria Crabb in her perfectly tailored black tuxedo, worn with black gloves and a white bow tie. Watson and César take up the rear, arms linked together. César is wearing an equally fancy suitcoat with his tie held in place with a ruby and silver tie pin, and Watson is wearing an officer’s dress uniform, with the sword and without the helmet, and also his good cane. All three husbands-to-be are wearing green carnation boutonnières.

AFTER PARTY

It's time to eat, dance, and party!

The seating has been rearranged for sitting at tables around the "dance" floor. Food from Windjammer has been placed on some tables for a buffet. There’s a selection of fancy cheeses and crackers, sushi, premade sandwiches, and salad with dressings on the side. For dessert, to one side there’s a table with cupcakes, cookies, and chocolates arranged in a heart. On the bar are a couple bowls of punch (including one explicitly labeled as non-alcoholic) made by Johnny ahead of time, because he's been forbidden to bartend his own wedding, much to his deep chagrin.

There’s a space set just off the dancefloor for musicians who wish to perform, the usual John’s piano (bribed into behaving with a whole pan of beef brisket from the buffet) off to one side.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Ari watches him, and she's not fooled by the relaxed pose, but she won't poke at whatever's going on between him and Clarke, either.]

You don't need to worry about your weaknesses. You've got friends here to watch your back. It's all nominal. [She smiles brightly.] And I've never danced. Well - [curse her terrible honesty!] - not since Cardalek, but we were very young then, and it was very informal, and it wouldn't carry. The music is all wrong.

You can't see it? Think about it. If you dance, you have the complications of whom to ask, and whose invitations to accept, and that's all... politics. Tower stuff. People read too much into everything. It's much better to be exempt, having been out in the black from a tender age and never learnt social graces, you see? Nobody minds that. You can stand aside and watch. Far more useful. Imagine if we'd been dancing and we'd missed the... [She gestures in Skulduggery's direction, pursing her lips in distaste.] You learn much more by watching.

[A tight grin! He's not worried, but he appreciates it all the same!]

Okay, if you ever want to, show me Cardalek dances. But I'll not press it, in the end, if you hated it, it be pointless.

[A head tilt.] No one here would mind. You're thinking too defensively. Instead of looking how to protect yourself, think on the offensive. There's so much you can learn from dancing with others here. Their rhythm and footwork, their speed, their culture, their personalities.

I'm more interested in everyone else reacting to them. [He didn't know ENOUGH about Skulduggery and the Captain's relationship, but he knew that mentioning the romance section as his weakness in regards to the Captain was a thing the Skulduggery reacted pretty strongly to. And took a gamble on him and Klaus showing everyone, even the Captain how to be completely comfortable flirting in public. All the same the only thing keeping Nobunaga from yelling a cheer to the skeleton and Lovecraftian void lobster, is that Nobunaga doesn't want the Captain to think he's conspiring against him or using him despite or because position of power. Nope. Nobunaga's been there too. Don't even get him started.]

Griffin looks like she feels betrayed.

But I've said before, power isn't always freedom. There's a steep cost. Yare yare...

Anyway, it's easier to observe that lot from the dance floor. But I suppose I already know what's going on among the dancers, so the ones making deals on the sides is where my curiosity truly lies.

[Ari, on the other hand, couldn't have predicted the relationship at all. She shunned the Captain now, as she would anyone who rudely rejected contract negotiation, and she'd kept her distance from Skulduggery. Now she feels vindicated in her mistrust of everything written in that binder without solid proof. It was his project, wasn't it? Of course he'd want to keep the Captain safe, if he cared for him.]

Power isn't always freedom, but people don't get to lament their lack of freedom when they're imprisoning others. [She has no sympathy.] People are angry. I don't blame them. [She's not emotionally close enough to anyone involved for anger, so it's a dispassionate observation.]

As for the dancing, if I could learn all that from dancing with a person, wouldn't they be learning the very same about me? I have to be defensive here. My position isn't strong enough to do otherwise.

That said- [she can't help a little smile] -I'd show you Cardalek dances, if I had the right music. And the right clothes. It'd look silly in uniform. I'd need...ribbons, and little lights, and a Tower-style dress.

Teyrey...

Have you spoken with Yato? About how a so-- someone becomes a shinki? One of his weapons? Although it may not be true of all universes, certainly isn't for Valdis, at least in Yato's, s-- people that don't become gods' chosen are listless. Tortured or devoured by demons to be used as energy. To put it into ter-- [An annoyed growl, and he facepalms. It's so damn important to him, but he promised not to force her to thunk about infinite horror again. Does he ABSOLUTELY NEED her to understand? Does it have to be this very second, while at a wedding reception?]

I told Valdis I don't trust people, I trust their motivations. I can't pin down hers, I'm not sure she's decided a course yet either. But Skulduggery-- has never once lied to me or the others. You shouldn't trust him, but he wants to stop the Captain from continuing this cycle or on the same path, he wants freedom and happiness for everyone including the ghosts. He's not trying to trick the Captain, because one cannot, but he is doing exactly what he should. Show the Captain there are other paths than torture and depression.

[He gently kisses the top of her head!] You don't have to talk to either of them or trust them. But I know Skulduggery is fighting on your behalf, even if you reject it.

Not everything is how it seems. You should try to change your thinking, no matter how difficult, to think of what you want, instead of what you do not. There are infinite things you don't want, pirates, imprisonment, torture, sure fine. But if you only try to avoid the bad, you'll never do what you actually want, and you'll never be truly free. Focus on what you want and how to get it. And if that's too much to ask right now, then put your faith in me. I will help you soar like my hawks, I promise.

Don't underestimate yourself. No one else has your training. You don't need to be a scared little rabbit, you are a cunning hawk by my side.

Ribbons and lights huh? Sounds magnificent. I'd love to see it.

[She looks up at him, a hurt little expression on her face, and then just as quickly it's gone. He's testing her. It has to be that. Her ability to keep her composure in front of all these people, after what he knows she's been through this past week. Why else bring up all this? Well, Arilanna Tayrey won't disappoint him. She speaks quietly, but clearly.]

I know exactly what I want, and I'm surprised you don't see it. I have never wavered and never lost sight of it. I want my home. I want the Tradelines. I want my freedom - real freedom, not amusements and trivialities on this ship. Everything I do here is to bring me closer to that goal. Out there I mattered. Talented, youngest lieutenant on the ship, all of that? What does it matter here, with no course to chart and no ship to fly and people like... Yato, and Valdis, who likely think I'm weak just for being human. And they're the good ones. The ones I know. I can't be more than I am. I can protect myself. To further my goal. That's not fear, that's good sense.

I don't know why you believe Skulduggery. If he were making some... horrendous sacrifice, getting close to that man to learn his secrets, that would be one thing, but his writings say otherwise. How would you know if he had lied to you? You say you don't trust people, but you seem to have unfounded faith in him. He doesn't want freedom for us, he's one of the people who wants us all to despair and think there's no way out, isn't he? But it's alright. Even if you do believe in him, because I'll be watching your back anyway.

I talked to Yato. I wouldn't trust him on everything, but I know enough to see that your contract with him is sound. He's dealing respectfully with you. Fair contract. He hasn't always done that with others.

[Nobunaga is pained, and working hard to keep calm so he doesn't spread it and affect Yato. Guilt, remorse, this sort of thing is sin. But if he holds no regrets, then it is okay, good, to be empathetic. And he is shockingly empathetic.]

No one thinks you're weak. [Sharp tone and a small glare interrupting her.]

You think being human is weak? It's strength. Not even gods can handle humans. They have to divide them and make them fight each other, otherwise humans can conquer the heavens banding together, and that's exactly what they've done in your time, in your sector.

[He softens as she talks about Skulduggery, and gestures to the door.] Let's go outside.

[Privacy, right? He's never smoked, but suddenly. He wants to start.]

I told you, I don't trust words, I trust actions. Remember when you thought join or die meant I would directly kill anyone who didn't immediately sign on? This is words. Circumstances can't be lied about.

I wish I knew what L-space is like. I keep thinking it must be like my thinking, and yet...

I believe him because there no logical failing. I've said before, making the Captain to be an obstacle is --

[He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and leans his back against the wall.]

[Is it age? Experience? All the over-20s seemed to get it. Why was that? What was Nobunaga missing that the younger generation had? Emotions? How could he help them?]

What do you think happens to the dead in Yato's world? Or here, if the Captain didn't exist?

Edited (Phone tags amirite) 2022-12-14 13:07 (UTC)

[That sharp little rebuke is a shock, and Ari nods her acquiescence, even if she doesn't think he rightly understands. She won't argue. Nobunaga doesn't think she's weak. He's made that plain, and it's one of the reasons she cares so much for him. But what else could you call it, by comparison to literal immortals, people who could command and shape great bursts of energy, transform into creatures, manipulate probability itself?

She lets it go, and follows him outside, half-afraid that he's going to be terribly angry with her, and not really knowing why.]

You don't trust words. That's your right, and I see the logic in it, but all the same, words have power. I could look past join or die when I misunderstood it. Someone else might not have, and you could have lost a potential ally. And everything written by Skulduggery, true or false, has some purpose behind it -but if you want to look to actions alone, what do you think it signifies to dance with and kiss our captor, in plain sight of everyone, at what is supposed to be a celebration of someone else's love? How do you interpret that?

[She shakes her head.] Dead is dead. Gone, nothing left. The person no longer exists, you say goodbye to the body and that's it. That's how it ought to be. Not all these horrors with ghosts and resurrections and... not letting anyone go.

If someone can't sort out words from intents they're too weak to be of use to me.

I think he's extremely smart. I told you before. This ship is powered by emotions, not just depression and torture. The Captain resorts it because he's unambitious and lazy, like most demon kings. They'll take the shortest route, even if its long term value is vastly less. Like-- in shipping. They would take the fastest cheapest easiest courses, because the others worth more are harder, and unknown. Skulduggery is risking himself to help all of us. He's trying to show the Captain there's a better way to get emotions, they don't have to be painful. Love and romance are beautiful, and probably even stronger. Hate is the worst emotion you can try to generate. It doesn't break yourself, but it will never make you free.

[Loss. Maybe it's loss. The kids haven't experienced decades of losing people. The desire to have the dead back no matter what the cost. He glomps and holds Teyrey, trying to fight back the tears in his eyes.]

Her name was Kitsuno. The first woman I ever loved. She was tortured to death by disease, and there was nothing I could do, not me, nor anyone else. The monks told me it was fine, she'd be reincarnated. But what I wanted was the kind of Japan where people didn't suffer like that anymore, where we got better at healing, had so much prosperity, instead of just everyone ready to die.

Don't give up Teyrey. I will get you your freedom. You'll see. I promise.

Souls don't cease in Yato's world. Nor here. If they aren't used, they get eaten by demons, or tormented by Inazami.

Right this is... [Deep breath and hugs her hard... then laughs softly, turning her around so he can hug her from behind.] Hideyoshi put a lot of faith in these tales. I've never had much respect for them, but please listen, I think you will benefit.

Izanami is our goddess of death and the underground. She is the mother of Amaterasu: the sun, who we call the mother of all Japan.

Izanami is... ahhh my mind tries to filter it through other religions from Earth too. [Just laughs!] in very ancient cultures on Earth, humans believed the underworld was a place of torment and death, part of burying people I suppose. And Heaven, is the stars, joining Amaterasu or other gods. Ghosts are people who couldn't let go of their own lives. Not just because people couldn't let go of them, but they themselves had something they still wanted to do.

I'm not completely sold. So much of this can't be real in my version of Earth. But humans have the power to create deities by wanting them to be so. Yato, Amaterasu, the Captain, you have power over them you don't even realize. Yato came because I needed him. He can help me cut a way free. The tricky thing is, they're powered by belief and faith. People always expect the sun to rise. Even if it's rainy or an eclipse. But I don't. I don't take it for granted at all. I say, humans can surpass the need for the sun. Grow life even where she cannot reach. And you know this to be true.

"We are how we're perceived." People like me... I'm good at controlling that as best I can. I set up a commanding intimidating presence, and people first meeting me lean into it. It's when people like you and Klaus, smart strong people see beyond it, that it gets tricky. The Captain is no different. I'm not saying treat him like you do me. But I'm saying, if you think of him as your enemy, you're giving him power he doesn't have. If you think of him as your captor, you'll never be free. Stand sideways. Use your opponents' strength and force to your advantage. You're able to be stronger than him someday. Don't see what he wants you to see. Instead of an untouchable demigod capable of torturing everyone for fun, take advantage of it. See him as a scared person who doesn't know what it's like to be human, but admires it. Who hasn't had friends, so he thinks it's better to scare everyone off with torture rather than risk being weak. Call his bluff.

I told Skulduggery-- everyone has their weakness. To my face, everyone told me the Captain was all my own flaws. I said that the first day you an I met, right? Nonfiction and people treating the Captain like he's not a monster, being nice to him, he hates that too. You have more control over your destiny than you give yourself credit for. So seize it. Take advantage of your existence. One moment at a time, and then we will conquer infinity together.

[Ari listens. Even at the point where she'd usually grow irritated, talk of gods and souls, she listens, because he asked her to, and because it's serious - and it would take a lot now for her ever to refuse him anything, under those circumstances. She lets him hold her, and turn her, and it occurs to her perhaps for the first time that all this affection must be a comfort for him, perhaps more than a wish to comfort her. That's what it is for Klaus, isn't it? She doesn't mind that. It makes it more important, because when she hears what he has to say about Kitsuno, she knows she'd do whatever was in her power to be there for him.

It's a lot to take in, all the same, and when he falls silent she stands there a moment, considering, before she turns around to face him again.]

I'm going to speak honestly, to all that, and I need you to know I don't ever mean any disrespect, but we're close enough that I need to be honest, don't I? [She always is - but she's aware that she'd never speak like this to her own captain. It wasn't her place; he had others, far senior to her, to confide in. Ari reaches out to take Nobunaga's hand, and this time she doesn't stop herself and pull back.]

First, I'm so sorry about Kitsuno. It was unfair - nobody's fault, but unfair, and wrong, and it must have hurt so much to lose her. I have to tell you - I hope you understand the spirit in which I say it, but I have to tell you that the Japan you dream of is possible. Your people are human just as I am, and didn't I tell you that Miri Carrington is pushing a hundred and forty, still healthy? And my generation, the genelab children - we don't get sick, or if we do, we heal quick, and if I don't expect to live long it's because I'm prepared to die shipside - but the others? Saratha Cordain? Ellai, and my friend Kaizen if he's still alive? Who knows how long they might live. If we can do it, then Japan can do it too, someday. Out to the stars, such advances, and all because long ago you made it possible. You're like Stanley Lorentzen. He never lived to see all the colonies flourish, but we're out there because of him, and we know it. Maybe someday there will be another spacer just like me, a woman whose ancestors come from your Japan, and she'll be reading a history of how her people made it to the stars, and it'll begin with you.

You have to understand that in my sector there are no gods - or if people believe in them, it's all faith, no proof. We've seen the stars, and under the ground on many worlds, and L-space beyond ordinary perception, and nothing else is there. The stories from Earth are just that to me, stories, and I can respect that others believe in gods and souls and all the rest, but I don't. There's Yato. I've met him, I know he's real, but what is he to me? I'm not going to worship him because he has powers I don't. I told him that he was morally wrong about something - being more powerful doesn't make him always right. If I talk about ghosts then all I mean is... consciousness divorced from matter, by some mechanism I can't guess at, but I don't doubt there is a mechanism. I believe in what I see.

Skulduggery is - what is the end goal, there? If you're right about him? The captain decides to stop torturing us, because positive emotions have power too - and he keeps us in a very pleasant cage instead? That's still not freedom. Your work will go on without you. You have Hideyoshi and Ieyasu and you've already accomplished so much. I haven't left my mark yet. Haven't done anything I planned to do. There's the difference - maybe that's what counts, even more than my home being a better place than yours. That's why I have to go back.

You're right about perception. You have your command presence. I have the Tradelines, code and custom - I was always seen as their representative, and treated accordingly. Professionalism, even in the face of pain or danger. It matters. The captain is my enemy, and any Tradeline captain would sentence him to death for all he's done, but he's not as strong an enemy as I first thought him. You and SecUnit taught me that. He's predictable, tries to poke at weaknesses. If someone won't negotiate contract, that's on them, and I owe them nothing. If you'd treated me how he did, I'd think the same of you. Actions, right? You might share flaws, but you're not the same. I'm proof of that. You weren't afraid to sit down and talk contract, even if you thought it was war, even if contracts in Japan are a much riskier business. You took the time to listen, and look now - you have as much loyalty as I've ever given anyone, and I- [a brief hesitation] I care so very much about you.

I will be stronger. You and I - together we'll get out of here someday, see the stars, get me back home and you to wherever you want to be. I do believe that. It's what sustains me.

[She's so funny. Every time she says she's going to speak honestly and freely, she says nice things. She must think given his general persona of strength he must generally refuse it? Which is extra funny given what he's trying to say about the Captain too.]

[He laughs softly, still holding her close.] You don't have to worship him, that'd be weird. I think that's the problem I usually have with gods. That they don't even bother interacting with people, and everything is just taken on faith instead of deeds.

[A headshake.] No. Skulduggery wants people to have their freedom. It's not just torture, because look at Klaus. Some people are masochists. It's the ability to choose. To try out new things, exploring, but not be trapped. Consent and the rest. Not just consenting to experiments.

You can make a mark on history here too, you know. Do something incredible.

Your enemy... [But the rest--!!!!!!]

[He blushes SO RED. More than ANY TIME Klaus has done this to him! Teyrey...] Yeah. We will. [NOPE NOT LETTING HER GO!]

Damn, you've come a long way already. Maybe you really will outdo me in no time. I can't wait to see it.

[If he's more aware of the nice things than the fundamental disagreements, she'd consider it proof that she's absolutely going about this the right way!]

I don't know about outdoing you, but I do trust that we'll get to where we want to be.

[He's blushing so deeply, and she can't tell why, because isn't that just what he's told her, before? He must know how much she values him.]

He remains my enemy. I'd be a failure both as a Tradeliner and a daughter of the Company if I considered my kidnapper anything other than my enemy. What you want to change, I think, is what sort. Some enemies are a constant threat and you have to expend a lot of energy on thinking about them and dealing with them. Others are - less important. You know they exist, but you don't move against them because they aren't a priority. You can ignore them while you achieve your other goals.

[With a little smile] I think he'd hate being ignored and treated as irrelevant to our efforts. [She'd have to pretend, at first, but sometimes acting a part for long enough made it real.]

The rest is- [she shakes her head] This place has no history. Don't try to dampen my ambition that way. I don't want to... explore this place. I want to go home. You want people to have their freedom, it's one of our core shared values, but with Skulduggery maybe you're projecting. I saw what he wrote. No escape, don't try to harm the captain, all of that nonsense. Words mean something to me when they're used in that way, but-

[She suddenly seizes on something else.] Oda, there's something else we have to do! When we escape this place, we'll have no shared language. We have to teach one another, even if it's slow.

[Nope! He's kind of used to just having to throw his feelings into the open, and being the fool who rushes in etc.]

What if he's not your kidnapper?

He is irrelevant, as far as I'm concerned, to be honest.

There is history. Ask Chase about it. Ah... Maybe not... too much. [No need to break her again!!!!] Just ask him about the people who were here a long time ago, before us. And what we can do about creating and shaping the future.

I'm not projecting with Skulduggery. I'm not saying he shares the Captain's goals or ambitions at all, I'm saying, talk to him yourself, I know that's what Skulduggery wants. I didn't even settle on that as my goal until after speaking with him, Lieutenant. He's more steadfast than Yato on it, and the only reason I notice Yato is because of it. If he's tricking me, then what do you think his true goal is? What would be the point of directing me towards trying to free everyone here if that's not his true aim? Pretty counterproductive, don't you think? He's the one who told me, personally, well before the binder, that the Captain doesn't need to use depression or torture, the captain is just too weak -- my word, not his -- to think he can inspire other kinds of emotions. Part of the reason he made the binder, I think, was because I asked him so many damn questions, and told him straight out that he should consider offering a consolidation, because just as I've always told you. Don't trust me, ask others. And it was me who told him that my weakness is softness. If I ever get through all of the library, the romance section will be dead last. Everyone has their weakness.

[Both hands up though, he leans his head on top of hers.] I don't know how long they've been together, so I'm not taking responsibility or credit for any of this. But you've got it wrong about Skulduggery You're thinking about escape too directly. I've told you before to try to think of this as more a landing platform, a launching platform. I suggest again, you try to do so. And that the Captain isn't directly your enemy.

Okay. As with the Art of War, let's try to collect our knowledge better, all right?

[Ari's doing her best, but she's starting to grow frustrated.]

What if he's the Executive Director of Kishar? It makes as much sense. Unless you're trying to say that it was Friday, not him, but she follows his orders.

[Much more seriously:] It is not my priority, but if I ever have the opportunity to kill him, I'll take it. It's a waste of time to pursue when my primary objective is getting home, but you take advantage of a situation where you can.

I don't disbelieve you about the emotions - but still I have no interest in talking to Skulduggery. I have no interest in talking to anyone who wants to tell me that there is no escape from this place, whether it's said in ignorance or malice. Those are the options. It's like... if you tried to stab me now, here. [She taps her chest.] You would not hurt me. You can't see my armor, but it's there. You might tell people ah, Tayrey is unkillable! I stabbed her and she felt nothing! But strike here- [a light tap to her unprotected throat] -and I bleed out like anyone else. Tell everyone I can't be killed, though, and maybe nobody will try. Lots of the claims in the binder are like that. Unproven. Likely unprovable.

[She shakes her head.] A launch platform becomes so because ships set off from it. I see no evidence of that here. Nor is there any written history. I could accomplish the greatest things, but after I'm gone from here, if the captain still lives and carries on with this behavior, nobody new will even know my name. You know he'd conceal all evidence of his failure.

I think... [her tone turns more measured, less insistent] we will not agree on this. Any of it. We don't have to always agree.

He has no capacity to control who comes here, when, how, and why. He is able to know things, sure. And not via mind-reading, but he isn't actively picking and choosing who comes or goes. What if none of this is actively his doing? People coming here, people getting stuck. What if he's just as stuck as everyone else? What if his attempts at the excursions are literally his attempt to find freedom too? What even makes you think killing him would do anything? Thousands of years of people trying, trying things you haven't thought of, and you're going to succeed, because what?

Skulduggery isn't saying there's no escape. He said trying to kill the captain won't resolve things.

If you want to call magic on this, I will again, cease or wait until a better time, but I expect you to think on it a lot harder. And not in the angle of hopelessness that makes you give up. I want you to think like the genius I know you are.

Why do you think the Serena Eterna is a ship?

You don't know this. You don't know any of this. You're repeating to me things that have been told to you as fact, when you have no evidence. I expect you to at least listen to me when I explain the lack of evidence, instead of just reasserting things as that you have no proof of as absolute truths.

If you don't think Skulduggery is trying to say I can't go home, go and read that wretched thing again.

If you want me to keep fighting off despair for your sake, to keep trusting you, then be worthy of the effort.

[Ari doesn't raise her voice. She's intense about it, but perfectly calm. The only indication of the depth of her emotion right now is that she'd never normally be so direct, so critical.]

I do know. There's not a damn fool in any universe who would try to capture me and hold me in a place where I can help break others free. There's no one insane enough to risk the devastation of everything they've ever worked for, for centuries, in having me able to undermine them wherever I go without then at least blocking off as much of my capacity as they could. There's nothing stopping me from much of anything.

I will re-read it. I'll hold you hand and read it again with you. He said there's a version of you already there. He doesn't even know that for certain, he is basing that off of others. But I can tell you that's the case, because otherwise a paradoxical wormhole would occur, and it would destroy things to try to stabilize the problems.

Answer me about the ship, Lieutenant. Why a ship? Do you think the Captain made it, or scavenged it? Either way: why? Why this one?

[He's also calm, because he's not scared either. A little intense, but he's intense about everything.]

[Ari's not afraid right now. She's angry with him. Angry that he doesn't seem to be following any of her arguments, and that he's making her doubt him and his capabilities because of it, because that's far too close to losing faith in her captain, on the Tradelines, and if that happened to someone it'd make their life very hard.

Of course, if she'd spoken like this on a Tradeline ship she'd have been shut down at once. Oda is different.
Their relationship is very different. She's still figuring it out.]

You're forgetting. He's like one of your demon kings, you said. Isn't it possible that he'd overestimate his own capabilities and underestimate yours? We don't know anything about the reasons he has for choosing people. Maybe he knew you were a risk but had to bring you here anyway. Maybe you were going to do something in your future that he wants to prevent. We don't have enough information to say.

I'm not a child, Oda. Don't think I haven't studied those papers. I could probably recite half of them to you. If he doesn't know things for certain he shouldn't state them as fact, and nor should you. My understanding of temporal mechanics and my observations of the Earthers here suggests something different from what you're concluding.

We'll talk about the ship after you consider my point about lack of evidence. Killing him might free us. It might do nothing at all. Thousands of years - and no records of what has been tried. Why do you think that is? Why won't you listen when I explain what's unproven?

[A little too far? Possibly. But Nobunaga pushes her on this issue all the time, to her mind, and she needs to do it back right now.]

If he was overestimating himself and underestimating me, he wouldn't leave me running free, he'd still try to make sure I can't interfere. He'd try to antagonize me, or fight me to assert dominance and crush everyone else's spirits by proving he had that power. That defying him in thoughts or words is useless. If he knows about me and my life at all, he knows exactly why, and he wouldn't bring me back to life.

I-- I'm supposed to be dead in my time, Teyrey. Ask Natsuno Yuuki, or the other Japanese. Or even EFB, I think he has history records of the Nobunaga Oda of his timeline. My timeline has been changed multiple times through wormholes. I don't know all of it, but there's no...

If we suppose, every single person here has gone missing from their own timelines, even though there is plenty of evidence that that isn't the case, what do you personally gain from thinking like this? From making your plans on our game boards as if time is continuing for you outside of our bubble in here? Truly? It isn't. People have had time skip memories. That's not Skulduggery saying so, that's them. Cross reference it.

Jenny and Chase and Clarke Griffin all know much of the past attempts. I've said before to not just rely on me. To talk to everyone else and decide for yourself.

I'm listening to you Teyrey, but you're incorrect. You're making your maps on not even outdated data, but without regard to actual data from other sources. Without being afraid, because I know you hate this, you hate the idea that it could be like this, and I know you're afraid, but you trust me to deal with this, right? I can't if I just ignore data and proof just because it's easier to say, "Oh they're obviously lying because such things are too much." I don't understand. Is it your job to find the easiest path in L-Space? Explain it to me.

What does anyone gain from the Captain being miserable, holding us hostage and us miserable, and doing nothing with his power? What is his real goal then, if not apotheosis as suggested? What is Skulduggery's aim? To trick everyone to leave the Captain safe? Do you even think it's working? You can't order someone to be at peace. The more power you gain, the less freedom as well. How would this whole convoluted plot of lying to everyone, be anymore efficient than just directly doing what they want?

I don't understand. I don't understand why if Skulduggery says something you take it as truth, but when I share my analysis you disregard it. What value do I have to you? Is it the lack of certainty? If I put forward some theory with conviction instead of pointing out how much we don't know, would you listen then? I can't do it. It's intellectually dishonest. Jenny and Chase and Clarke Griffin know some things that didn't work. They don't have thousands of years of data. They don't know that nothing will ever work.

And yes, it is my job to find the easiest safe path through L-space. That's exactly what I do. I'm not going to take a more dangerous route for the sake of showing off that I can, and put my crew at risk.

[She sighs.] When we first talked about this, you mentioned multiple universes, and I said that it was possible, but I wasn't convinced. Now I'm more convinced. It's likely that everyone here is from a different universe, all sitting parallel. That's why not all the Earths are the same. You're not supposed to be dead. Not the Oda that I'm talking to. In someone else's universe you died. In yours, you were saved by wormhole activity. In someone else's universe maybe I died in training, or maybe Cardalek was never founded so I was never born. If you follow the theory, the possibilities are limitless. And time is... not as linear as you might think. If the way out is a wormhole, it might take us to the very points we left, or it might take us to sometime later. Either way, I won't care, if I'm home.

You need to distinguish data from speculation, and consider the reliability of what you hear. Anything that comes from the captain via Skulduggery is unreliable - even if Skulduggery himself believes it and speaks in good faith with the best intentions. I don't have to know everything about the captain to know that much. He doesn't have to antagonise or fight you if you can be convinced he isn't your enemy, right?

You need to understand that I want to trust you, but you make it so difficult to do that when you tell me that you believe all this, and that the captain isn't my enemy. I understand not wanting me to focus on him, when doing so will distract me from working on the route to freedom, but you take it too far. It makes me worry about you. For you.

[He lets her say it all, sits down with his back to the wall, and not for the first time, debates smoking. Again.]

You're right about timelines. You're wrong that I think it's linear. It's infinite.

I'm not taking anything anyone says as anything other than their words until I cross reference it. And I have done so.

I know where I'm speculating, and where I'm not. You sound like Darcy. She nearly wanted to slit my throat when I tried to posit how to defeat him. It's not in the book. I tried to explain... [Looks up at the Promenade ceiling that can't be seen. He wonders which part he fell from when he "died." Almost died. Got possessed. Was it here? Elsewhere?] Do you have rock, paper, scissors in your sector? Paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper.

Most of the world is scissors. 75%. Then 20% is paper. Only 5% is rock. So scissor fighter get used to tying, used to having to think of other ways to fight after a tie. And they think paper is the weakest. They think rock is the strongest, but it's just that rock is able to defeat scissors. Against paper, the ones most people think is weakest, they can't do anything. Untouchables. People like Oichi. Who can fight in a different way. This is a metaphor, don't take it too literally.

I told Skulduggery if I get through all the library, romance will be last.

I trust you, Teyrey. I don't trust Skulduggery. I don't know him. I don't have a contract with him. We're not friends. I'll drink with him, I'll do karaoke with him, but I don't know how he thinks, or why. I only know what I know, no more. I told him this weakness of mine, because if I simply hid it because I was scared, I would hate myself for being so weak and frail.

Darcy told me she was going to hug the captain, and he threatened to skin her alive and make her bones dance on stage, and use them as a puppet to give Fio nightmares. And that is about what I'd do. Actually he didn't say he'd use her bones on stage, that is what I'd have done. Or wanted to. To warn everyone else to stay the fuck away from me. [Cracks his neck.] It's good I had that fight, because days later, Crichton hugged me. Americans, right? But I love him. He is my friend. This is what I mean.

I do no mean that -- [He closes his eyes, thinking harder.] That the captain could be softened, or that we have the same weaknesses, but rather, there is a way to fight him, but you must use paper, not scissors. Rather than try to cut him, don't. Be uncrushable as paper is to rock. Untouchable. I cannot handle Oichi. That is why I sent her away. Paper to my rock. Metaphorically.

As I said, I do not know what Skulduggery is thinking. But I know he is fighting for your freedom. Maybe I don't understand that. Maybe I misinterpreted it, because that day we met, I was still new, and I was thinking of myself, of what I did in my own time, and certainly, everyone talking about the Captain's sadism, and his issues pretending to be normal -- [A bitter laugh and a handwave.] Even before that, a long time before, I spoke with others, about why they said it was torture, what things were being done, the rest. Even so. Before speaking with Skulduggery, I thought I just want people to be happier. To not be miserable. It was him who made me narrow it back to freedom, like the castes.

If he didn't want that, wouldn't it be easier to try to convince me to convince the others to just be at odds? To fight one another? Me, who can barely get along with people I like! Skulduggery doesn't know my history, and didn't talk to the Captain about me. He died in Ireland when I was still unifying Japan, and he wasn't a nobleman. So it is not like he could have thought, "Aha, I better trick this openly admitted sadist, because his whole life is about unifying people even in hell, so it would never work to just use him as a wedge to divide others especially since he already nearly skewered pirates and talks about being better at torture than the Captain."

Come. [Pats the ground next to him.] I'm not trusting anyone's words, and I never will. My brother Nobuyuki I trusted very much. And he was the one sending assassins after me. He believed I was wrong. Wanting to change things that shouldn't be changed. He thought I was going to get everyone killed or worse. Corrupt their souls. I know you don't think that, but sometimes... this is why the easiest route is not the best. Remember what I said of the danger of wormholes? And yet you are willing to try them anyway. This is that. The easiest route isn't what I want. The one that will absolutely work, that will get everything I want. [Eye gleam.] I will never settle for anything less.

It isn't enough to get one person free. I demand all of us. Every single last one. Even the ghosts. And I'll deal with every obstacle in my way, without fail. And I'll abolish whatever is trapping people here so no others come, and we will bring our own history out into the other realms we go. I will use the positive emotions from music from Jeff, Ryan, Min-Gi, Eddie, and anyone else. I will be so much stronger than the Captain, and I'll show everyone that death's emotions are weak compared to the strength of joy, pride, and victory. In Earth, I used production and economics. Prosperity and peace. Maybe Max the Omnic will figure out a currency to help encourage those who need more direction and reward people directly instead of this 'permanent vacation' listlessness, but I will not work with the Captain. Understand? [Firm staring Teyrey down so she understands the full gravity of that statement.] Word by oath. I don't trust him, and I don't make contracts with demons. Tch.

Everything I do will be without talking to him. Because I don't need him. And I will prove to everyone the other ways things can be done, freedom can be achieved, especially because everyone says it's impossible, without killing him or needing his help or attention at all.

Do you have a problem with that, General?

[Confusion flickers across her face at first, because yes, clearly she knows what rocks and paper and scissors are, but it takes her a moment to process his meaning. Some sort of game. It's about making use of people's strengths, and realising that someone who might not be best suited to one situation might be just what's needed in another. Ari understands that. Anyone who has had a team to manage understands that, she thinks.

Ari doesn't move until she's invited, but when she is, she's very quick to join him, sit straight on the floor beside him, even in her best uniform. And she listens - and it's still difficult, but she must have gotten all her tears out that day in her cabin, because there's no display of emotion, no sudden panic at anything he says.]

No. No, there's no problem. [For once this isn't Ari backing down with reflexive deference, because she's much too far into this debate for that.] If you can achieve your goals that way, I'll be glad of it. I've told you what I want; I don't care how it comes about so long as it does. I'll try my way, but if someone else succeeds, it benefits all of us.

I want everyone to be free too, including the ghosts. Freedom for me is getting home. I'll hold you to that. Being trapped on this ship, even if you make it peaceful and prosperous, is not freedom for me. I will take whatever risks I have to - and yes, I'll take risks for myself that I wouldn't if I had a crew of two hundred depending on me to keep them safe.

Something else you need to know. I'll never attack you. Not if we argue, not if you tried to hurt me by calling me a worthless, contractless copy of Arilanna Tayrey instead of being a real person, or - well, no matter what happens. I'm not Darcy. I wouldn't do it, not ever. If you want more people to talk to about this, you should try Cassandra, who was on the expedition with us, or Palamedes Sextus. Maybe they can explain things better than I can. I have been talking to others, just like you suggested.

This ship isn't freedom, just a launching pad. It can't be prosperous either, there's no kitchens, or trade. If we could trade, we could leave.

I will get you freedom. I will explore, just like I always wanted. I will conquer Delos, and I will see America, and all its rocks.

Well attacking me wouldn't get you to your freedom too well. Even if someone lied and said it would, I don't think you'd believe them. And I know you won't break contract. But yeah. [HUG!] I trust you.

I will speak with them. I think I just explained my thoughts poorly. It's difficult. To go tell someone exactly your weaknesses in the sliver of a chance it's useful. [Eyeroll!] Konpeito in human form. I have told Klaus this too, because he is much like it. I'm useless against it. It was like blowing him a kiss. I thought I was doing something outrageous, something my generals would have fainted at, instead he wasn't surprised at all! Just took it a step further! [Laughs and leans on her!]

Whenever anything is too wholesome or 'pure.' I want to corrupt it, pervert it, make it something dark and evil. Mufufu. Oh or I cannot stand the tension. Like Deputy Pratt's soup party. I have to be banned from such a thing. I would need to yell something during it.

I don't know if the Captain is like that. But I do like surprising people. The funnier the reaction, the more it is a reward for me. It doesn't always have to be negative, but if I say I am fine with negative, then I don't have to care or feel bad if that is what I get, right? [Huff.]

Do you know why I say there's no way he's more of a sadist than me?

[She can't help a small smile.] Is it because you're more creative? He'd never come up with the idea of a skeleton dancing on stage. [Not that she believes Nobunaga would actually do it, but it takes imagination to think up such things!]

I know that it's difficult. I let you see my fears and my weaknesses, don't I? That's not easy for me, even if I know there are benefits. [She slips an arm around him, letting him lean on her.] Erin tried to see me the other day, so she knows how I was. She and I have contract, so I didn't mind that so much, but then she said I should talk to more people about it and I don't think she understood what a terrible idea that was, and why I never would.

I once said I didn't care if people hated me so long as it was for things I'd actually done. Negative reactions aren't so bad if you're in control of them. But what about me - you don't think I'm dark and evil, do you? [Teasingly] Or maybe you'll try to corrupt me, when I least expect it.

[A laugh!] I'm sure he would be able to think of things I couldn't.

It is because I am willing to put myself through a lot, because that is how much I enjoy it. He is scared of people, nothing new. Perfectly reasonable. -- This is speculation, I have nothing to base it on, just my assumption. And I'm sure he doesn't want to deal with them not liking him, like the banquet after the battle royale. But I don't care. I enjoy everything so much, that I'll do all these things and gloat when people can't keep up, and then teach them how do even better so I have something to keep fighting.

I am always corrupting you. Even now. You're here at the dance, and instead of being wholesome, you are out here with me, scandalous, and talking about how to subvert the way things are. Fufufu.

[She finds that when the speculation is identified as speculation, she doesn't mind it at all! That can be useful.]

But if he doesn't want to deal with it, why do you think he would hold banquets in the first place? You're definitely a better sadist than he is, I agree.

[A sudden thought occurs to her, and she shakes her head.] If he's scared of people - isn't it possible that he refused to speak to me not just to be rude and insulting, but because I'm a better negotiator? Or even if I'm not, maybe he was afraid I'd be able to talk him into a contract he wouldn't want?

[Another smile.] We're not being scandalous out here! But we should have brought drinks.

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