IC INBOX for The Last Voyages

[magician_king]

You know what to do.

Comments

[magician_king]

Actually not much. Steve and I were paired almost right away.

[He admits, sipping his own cup.]

We fit well right from the beginning.

[athingwithfeathers]

It's nice when you find people you can work with.

What do you think 'graduating' means?

[magician_king]

Completing your moral development to the point where the Admiral is comfortable letting you go.

[athingwithfeathers]

[She thinks seriously about his answer for a few quiet moments.]

What do you mean by moral development? [She's been on the Barge long enough to clarify the reason for her question;] I don't know your circumstances. I know that how I grew up, where I come from, means that my...morality is off from 'normal'.

[magician_king]

I'm not convinced that I'm the person to explain this to you. Being a, no longer a warden, and b, not a fan of the Socratic method.

[athingwithfeathers]

I don't want an explanation in general. I've heard plenty on it. I want to know what it means to you. If that's what you think is necessary to get out. You do want to leave, right?

[magician_king]

Oh- well, in that case, no. No, I don't really want to engage in this with you.

[He says, matter of factly, hands curling tight around the mug.]

[athingwithfeathers]

[She shrugs.]

Okay. I hope you do have someone. Your other methods of attempting to leave haven't been very successful.

[magician_king]

Wow, thanks.

[He says, arching his eyebrows at that.]

[athingwithfeathers]

[Her return look is as calm as ever.]

You agreed to sign on. Then you tried to set up a spell that went wrong and ended up hurting and killing people. Then you took part in a really stupid plan that also hurt and killed people. Neither of them came close to success.

[magician_king]

I would do both of those things again. I think you being here like this is really unethical, and I'm only ashamed I didn't move sooner.

[athingwithfeathers]

With what you know now, I hope you wouldn't. Retrying something that didn't work the first time is stupid. At least get a new plan. Being here is probably completely unethical though that might depend on your ethical code.

[magician_king]

So now I'm stupid. This is going well.

[athingwithfeathers]

I don't know if you're stupid. Doing something that doesn't work over again and expecting a different result is stupid.

[magician_king]

Are you honestly incapable of distinguishing between one attempt to create a magical work around and another to locate the Admiral through mechanical tampering with a wall panel?

[athingwithfeathers]

You said you would do both of them again.

Though I'm still not sure how the locating the Admiral thing was supposed to work.

[magician_king]

Ah- I mean, more, I don't regret the attempt. I made the right decision, risking the failure.

[athingwithfeathers]

I might agree with you about your first attempt.

How long have you been here?

[magician_king]

A year and three months, now. What about you?

[athingwithfeathers]

A little over four months.

[magician_king]

Then you're not at a stage yet where you're going to really appreciate how hard this place is on people.

[athingwithfeathers]

Possibly not. But I've seen worse.

That doesn't make anything here better. It doesn't make it any less hard. It doesn't make people's suffering any less valid. It doesn't mean I don't care. It just means that I'm not going to come to the realization that this is wrong and I shouldn't take part in this system.

[magician_king]

Then we should probably move on to talking about how to handle this month.

[athingwithfeathers]

Yeah. If there's anything you need, I'll do my best to get it for you. If you want to talk I'll listen. Otherwise, you know the Barge better than I do. What do you want?

[magician_king]

To be let off if we make port, mostly. The rest I can-


No. A new prescription, I'm seriously overdue.

[Tapping his glasses.]