𝔬𝔭𝔢𝔫 | 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔣𝔩𝔬𝔴

[sapphyre]

"I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon."

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[sapphyre]

Are you certain it’s not you that are the one with the fetish?

[ he’s definitely scraping for it if he has to pull the uno reverse card on her ]

[peasant]

[ that would be terribly inconvenient, is alina's first thought, given her very nature depends on light and heat. her second thought —

is that she would very nearly feel bad about him squirming like a fish baited on a hook, if he weren't reversing this on her. time to put an uno reverse card on top of this uno reverse card. ]

First you ask me to participate in your fetish, and now you're asking what my own may be? That's a bit perverse.

[sapphyre]

You were the one to name it as such in the first place and now admit to relishing in my humiliation. What else am I supposed to think?

[ for the record, he's not a fan. ]

[peasant]

[ a heartbeat of moments passes between one missive and the next. it's not particularly surprising that a man steeped in pride would take it as a great offense, on par with filth smeared across pure white: a dirty stain on a reputation.

alina still finds herself dumbly confounded by it, anyway. no, not by it. by the sheer misinterpretation of who she must be. as if suffering degradation her entire life would make her turn the blade on someone else and savor it.

it allows enough of a lull for the teasing, evidently, to mellow — temporarily, at least. lucky him. ]

You could think me not needlessly cruel, for one.

I relished in your surprise, not your humiliation. You're telling on yourself.

[ maybe not lucky him, after all. she'd never have interpreted it as mortification, without his help. ]

[sapphyre]

[ that would be the difference between them. no one taught him not to turn the blade. his world, for all its comforts given, is still a cruel one. an eye for an eye sounds far more satisfying a conclusion than being the better person in anything.

even now, he considers pressing on. now she seems to have yielded her nettling. shame stops him, yet it is pride that continues his responding. ]

Spare me your mercy. You should care less of what people might think of it.

[ coming in with the hot tip. he supposes this is a gesture of cease fire. in his weird little way. ]

[peasant]

No. I think I'll spare my mercy to whatever and whomever I choose.

[ the calm, casual nature of that stubbornness is only among the various ways she's infuriating. but it's built on a pillar of conviction, all the same; the darkling had been cold and callous, might have delighted living in that menacing shadow. alina, having been crushed beneath it, has no desire to breed that same contempt.

for all that he had believed them twin mirrors of each other, even in death, she has to make the strides to prove that, whatever sliver of himself he had glimpsed in her, had just been a mirage born from the mind of a deluded madman.

beyond that, there's a reason her trusted retinue is full of misfits and outcasts. ]

Ravka has already suffered enough at the hands of men who cared too little what people thought of it.

[ i am trying, she does not say, to not make the same mistakes. it's implied, nevertheless, silent between the loops and lines of her written words. ]

[sapphyre]

Do you think that's the thing that needs to change in order to restore it to its former glory?

[ no indication on whether he agrees or not, only a bit of mockery. it's not his kingdom, not his problem. ravka has had its fair share of bad crowns as sure as she must know so has the seven kingdoms.

while his father has helped foster the peace built by the conciliator, aemond also sees his softness as his weakness. he was afraid to be feared and hated. silly it is to hinge ill omens on things like a throne made of swords bound to cut anyone who sits on it wrong, great kings have sat upon it without enduring a single scrape. his father? its been slowly killing him for years and his peace will likely not outlive him.]

[peasant]

[ do you ever tire of cynicism? she sketches out, defensive. immediately crumples it out to become litter. i destroyed the thing that needed to be changed to restore it to its former glory. he'll likely insist it's arrogance in need of humbling, no matter how true it has been, now that the fold's curtain of darkness has been tugged apart.

she concedes to something equally laconic, but no less honest. ]

Bold of you to claim Ravka had any sort of former glory to speak of.

[ she's not going to kid herself, here. can anything so wartorn, from its very conception, be considered glorious? never mind, of course, the lantsov kings that had followed. it begs the reason of why, then, she'd want to save a country that detests her nearly as much as alina is resentful of it. ]

sdka sorry work week has got me in the weeds

[sapphyre]

[ spoken like a lowborn subject, they never had a good time even if the times were good.

but perhaps she is right, there were no better times for ravka. better for somebody, at the very least. yet, that is not what she means when she is trying to pioneer change.]

So you are taking it upon yourself to foster it's golden era then.

Throwing fireballs at princes.

[ good job. ]

my tired ass relates 😔 no worries!!

[peasant]

Oh, no. That part is just me fostering an interesting new side hobby.

[ of throwing fireballs at princes, as one does, when you're a temperamental, walking furace trying to curry respect for a nation that feels as faltering and fickle as a toddler, some days. one wrong move, and it all topples down to bruise its fragile knees. ]

I used my fist on the last prince I met. You should count yourself lucky.

[ rip nikolai's side profile. ]

[sapphyre]

[ well the last time he got punched by a girl he also lost an eye in the same fight. so — ]

Twould depend on if you could land the hit. I suppose it would depend on the hit as well.

[ — he hasn't learned, clearly. ]

[peasant]

[ saints, does this list of strange fetishes never end. ]

A surprise strike is more of my specialty. And it was to his nose, if you're taking dedicated notes.

Don't tell me you're truly trying to pick a fight with a woman the size of a tree branch right now.

[ AGAIN. ]

[sapphyre]

[ she keeps pushing this narrative, he'll just have to assume she wants to fuck him. he doesn't make up the rules. ]

I believe we're just talking.

[peasant]

[ she's a saint as pure as winter snow, thank you (footage not found). ]

Do you usually begin all your conversations with thinly veiled threats and challenges? In my experience, talking doesn't usually involve discussions of fireballs and fists.

You're trying to goad me. It's not your most subtle work.

[sapphyre]

[ how did they fit so much attitude in such a tiny body. ]

And there you go again, assuming you know me so well.

[peasant]

If I'm so wrong, then correct me. I think I've given you ample opportunity to do so.

[ or could it be that she has a tendency to be annoyingly right? hm? checkmate. ]

[sapphyre]

[ moving on. ]

What would you prefer to talk about then?

[peasant]

[ hm. suspiciously courteous. ]

We could talk about you, since you insist I don't know anything. Tell me something you'd like for me to know.

[sapphyre]

I don't want to fight you, not really.

[ well... it is honest, and it is important to this conversation, and it is about him. ]

[peasant]

[ it's a bit of a loophole answer, but — she'll allow it. her concession is, perhaps, smoothed along by her surprise. ]

Was it really just as simple as your own curiosity, then?

[sapphyre]

Why is that so hard to believe?

[peasant]

You should know why.

[ the long list of bloody, creative ways in which grisha face persecution is only the tip of her parania. as for the rest — ]

People always have hidden motivations for being "just curious".

[sapphyre]

[ well, he comes from a family more likely to bed a witch than burn one. but he also comes from a different family that definitely would like to burn one.

so, that is fair. he should.]

True. This could just be a creative ploy to get you beheaded.

[ he's joking. he's JOKING. how does one inflect sarcasm into their penmanship?]

[peasant]

[ :/ :\ it's times like these he's fortunate that she's a morbid creature by nature. ]

Beheading? Really? I was hoping for a more imaginative execution than that. Once you've seen one axe aimed at your head, you've seen them all. Loses its appeal very quickly.

[sapphyre]

Would you prefer to first be bathed in dragonflame? I just thought you would appreciate something swift beforehand.

[ there's too much actual necromancy going around to just leave a witch headless. she'll put it back on. ]