wizardmanor | Floor 3, Room 5

You're not. But in this, you both are worrying me sick.

[you youths and your Coping Skills]

I already have enough wrestling with my soul at the moment. Perhaps more literally than I would like right now. At least for a little while, I just hope you both would be kinder to yourselves.

[He looks about to argue... up until he hears that second bit.]

...What do you mean, literally?

[...

He exhales slowly.]

Did you take any of the witches' mana stones for yourself yet?

...No. I've just been taking the chimera's.

Why?

[Ah, there's that cold look again.]

Magic for a wizard comes from emotions. From the heart. And mana stones contain what is left of a magical creature's power.

So what do you think happens, Ahito, when the magic in those stones, filled with someone else's heart, enters your own? What happens when those feelings are strong? What happens when that will did not want to break?

...

[He regards Solomon, speechless, for a moment.

And then:]

...How many of the witches' stones did you...?

Only the ones I ate on the battlefield. No one has told me what became of the rest yet.

[He just assumes Itha and Robin ate them all at this point. Give him his share, u monsters.]

What was left of the witch named Sophie fought at me from the second I swallowed her stones.

I doubt there would be a danger of possession. But... [His lips thin.] It's incredibly uncomfortable, to put it lightly.

[So... one or two, he thinks? There was a lot going on at the time.]

...And she's still fighting you, even now?

[He shakes his head.]

No, not anymore. Her feelings finally went quiet the evening after I woke up from my stupor.

[And yet he doesn't sound entirely triumphant about it.]

...I haven't been able to get it off my mind, I suppose.

...

[It was already an unpleasant idea to him, but somehow, it's even worse than he initially figured.]

If you get more mana stones from other witches or wizards - are you still planning to consume them for their power?

...

[It's the hardest question he's been asked in his time here. Before he'd known, there wouldn't have been any hesitation. There had been no problem with the stones of the beasts. But feeling the spirit of another wither and die inside one's body... it's a trait of the demonic, to snatch up souls like gems, to slip them into their mouths like candy and snuff out their light.

Were they no better this way? This world is so similar to his own, where humanity and magic would never truly intermingle. But what line should the magical draw when it came to what was perceived as the greater good?

What line did they draw with one another? Was it wise to have a line to draw at all, if it meant leaving something dangerous and powerful to be picked up by something else? Was this monstrous, to rob the soul from the grieving, to snatch it just like he might snatch a demon up as an item?

...

There's a long, slow exhale of breath.]

I'll do what I must, if it means the people can continue with their lives.

Maybe that makes me no better than a demon. But... I will do it, if it means it won't be used against them otherwise.

[They are his line in the sand.]

[What answer did he want to hear, really...? Even he doesn't know. Still, he purses his lips in thought, arms crossing, closed. Eyes hidden behind his shades once more.]

...You really are a wizard of the north, in the end.

[He laughs weakly.]

Was there any doubt?

[Solomon knows the answer to that well enough. He's not a fool - he knows that out of the five, he's pushed himself to a separate corner from most of the rest in many ways. Habitual, uncomfortable, a refusal to be seen as anything less that a threat in a room of powerful beings that did not care to show more than the baselines of respect.

A wolf in sheep's clothing, attempting to pretend in the presence of other wolves.]

A little.

It's almost impressive, watching you kill a part of yourself to answer like that.

[That hesitation did not go unnoticed.]

[This, at least, is easier to answer.]

It's not the first time. I doubt it will ever be the last.

There are other uses for them, you know. If you dislike the idea so much.

I have no intention of making them trinkets or batteries, if that's what you mean. Their usage is going to happen one way or another.

My concern is keeping them out of more dangerous hands.

And you don't trust your precious sage to make sure of that, either?

[His eyes narrow.]

Don't put words in my mouth.

Tatara will handle what is within his responsibility.

And after all that talk about alternatives when it came to Akira's ghost problem, too.

...Well, not that you're wrong, either. Tatara's probably useless when it comes to these things.

Don't speak to get a rise from me, Ahito. If you have a point, say it plainly. Otherwise, you can leave.

[He's exhausted.]

[He just shrugs again.]

You'll kill a part of yourself before you rely on anyone else, and then beat yourself up about how you could have done it differently later.

It's starting to look like a pretty bad habit from here.

[...

Despite the tone of the conversation, Solomon laughs.]

I mean, you're not wrong.

Maybe the spirits decided I'd had enough time playing around in that sort of mindset. [Just. Gesturing to himself being stuck in bed now.] I can't say I want to end up like this again. Nor do I want to throw pity parties.

If I can't spend some time regretting my mistakes, I will just repeat them. So let this old man be sour for a day, and you can judge me freely afterwards.

Oh, I plan on it.

[He will keep harassing you old man, the only escape is when they're done with this place and able to leave (allegedly).]

You didn't miss much afterwards, by the way.

[Bad end - you are trapped here forever with the worse of the grandpas.]

Mm, and here I was worried we weren't going to get back to that question.

I remember Tatara and G'raha arriving, but nothing after that... Did anyone go to check the City of Ice for damages?

Edited 2024-06-13 00:34 (UTC)

(no subject)

dyingtohealyou - 2024-06-13 02:39 (UTC) - Expand