voice; un: homeros

[leitstern]

Hmph! Titles here are worthless. Futile, trivial words scrawled on parchment. Merely thinking of them insults me.

[Granted, he needs little provocation to feel insulted.]

Why do you regard their distinction as an accolade worthy of merit?

It has been most instructive as to the nature of your kind that you salivate like mongrels and chase subordination and not independence.

[There is an embittered sigh.]

Do you not entertain any notion of loyalty to your native land? Your eager willingness to chase glory is abominable. Hm. It is useless. You should close your mouths and remember where you come from.

Comments

[leitstern]

[The username catches his attention but the familiar, feminine voice captures it. How funny it sounds so; considering they haven't been on friendly terms. Nor have they been familiar over many a year.]

Because building a fence or slaughtering beasts is the height of effort? You would have to award a distinction to everybody.

[He sounds angry. He sounds frustrated. But he is engaging.]

[feisticuffs]

It's not the act itself that matters, nor do I believe titles or accolades should be awarded for just any errand.

[She resists the urge to sigh; if she's going to attempt to engage, she needs to remain even-headed.]

Tasks done in the service of bettering the kingdom or protecting its citizens do, however, have merit.

[leitstern]

Do you not think you are preaching to the choir? A lifetime of service and distinction is meaningless when your citizens are fully prepared to turn against you.

[His voice is cold and bitter but that's hardly new. More importantly, is he speaking of his own betrayal or the betrayal he feels he suffered?]

[feisticuffs]

[No, it certainly isn't new, and she could say a great deal about loyalty and experience in response, but it hardly seems worth the effort when regardless of what she answers, he's like to spit venom in response.]

One never knows what it is you're looking to hear. I do believe you would hiss at me no matter what I said.

[leitstern]

[There is a significant pause.]

If harsh words are all you remember of me then perhaps you are correct.

[It is harder to understand her than his old friend. He doesn't like it.]

[feisticuffs]

I do remember other things— distant though they may be.

[She doesn't quite recognize that Jasper in the man he is now, though it was so long ago and she had been so young that they're incomplete at best.]

[leitstern]

Then you had best forget the lot. Nothing is worth remembering.

[He doesn't quite recognise the man he was as himself, either. It is much easier to be harsh about it.]

[feisticuffs]

No, I don't think I will.

[Whatever he truly thinks of her, she doesn't know, but those memories are what make it impossible to simply hate him. It would, perhaps, be simpler if she could, but human nature has never been known to be simple.]

They're not much, but my memories are my own.

[leitstern]

[Can he claim the same? Are his memories his own? It would have been simple to respond in the past.

Now? He hardly wants to think about it.]

That is naive. Your memories are whatever others decide they are.

[feisticuffs]

And that sounds like nonsense.

[Naive or no, there are some beliefs she will always stand firm on.]

Our thoughts and memories are much of what make us who we are. Nobody else should ever be able to touch them, or dictate what they may be.

[Free will, pal.]

[leitstern]

It matters not whether you believe nobody should impede your right to decide your actions. The world will never seek your permission.

[His tone is cold and devoid of affect.]

A lesson afforded to your father I think.

[feisticuffs]

[She grits her teeth. It's a low blow, but also a very deliberate moving of goalposts to distract from the actual conversation at hand.]

An incredibly unfortunate and infuriating turn of events, yes, but not what's being discussed now.

[Mordegon isn't here, lucky for all of them.]

You do not have the right to dictate what I choose to remember, was the point. I highly doubt you intend to do to me what your master chose to do to my father.

[leitstern]

[There is a cold and deathly silence. When he remembers the possession of the king, he remembers being ignored. People choosing to forgo reason and forget his warnings.]

You know perfectly well I would not act without reason.

[There had been a reason to possessing the king; same as there being a reason for his treason.]

Though knowledge of my motivation is as irrelevent as your naive belief you have a decision. I do not expect you to understand.

[feisticuffs]

I hardly made any such accusation.

[She sighs heavily, closing her eyes for a moment and pinching the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb. Speaking with him is always an exercise in frustration and watching targets wildly fly about in front of her; he's stubborn for the sake of it and infuriatingly elusive besides.

Why, she asks herself not for the first time, does she bother?]

Once again, we are unable to understand one another. [She sounds neither surprised, nor defeated.] So it is, then.

[leitstern]

[Something is missing in their exchange. Some reason and motivation for hurt and anger. The problem with having no memory of her past eight years is complex; his anger still directed at a child. The memory of being the outsider in his adoptive family is more painful than he wants it to be.]

It seems so. One of these days perhaps we shall speak properly.

[Without bitter anger? Hopefully.]

[feisticuffs]

Wouldn't that be something?

[Though she cannot help the trace of sarcasm that manages to worm its way through, there's a genuine note to her words, as well, brief as they are. She remembers who he was quite well, and even fondly at times— but sixteen years is a very, very long time apart, and people change.

They both have, she imagines; she would have been a very different person if she had ever had the opportunity to remain in Heliodor— if doing so had not been a death sentence.]

Until then.

[The feed closes, and she will leave him to his own devices. If they cannot converse civilly, she would not perpetuate more conflict.]