week 7 | tuesday

[concasse]

[At least, Sanji doesn't pretend to look anything but concerned when he calls out to Dragon, requesting another audience with her so soon. All the weeks of secrecy means he's too tired for mind games.

If that ends up coming back to bite him, well. At least he went into this making the decision honestly.]

Dragon-sama. I hate to bother you again like this, but I had some questions.

Comments

[concasse]

[... Sanji has been hurt by this war. There's a wince of pain when she mentions "those who were killed", and feels his stomach clench for it, having to drag his eyes away.]

... She won't take losing very well, y'know.

[...]

Will it really end with us? You two make it sound like you've been doing this shit for a while. What makes our iteration different?

[themodsgrimm]

[She shakes her head.]

We have elapsed our magic - circumstances in the previous round led to a considerable amount of power being drained... and we cannot host another round, nor do I ever want to.

I speak with confidence when I say this is the final bout of our war.

I only want it to count for something good.

[concasse]

... You mean everything happening to Tiger-sama, with Hiro.

[Or he assumes. Tiger dying and Dragon having to start a redo sounds like it would take a lot of magic and effort. Though that reminds him:]

Not that I assume you'd be cruel enough to leave her dead, but... why is it that she was brought back? Tiger-sama dying would have meant you were the winner, yeah?

There wouldn't have been a reason to continue the war.

[themodsgrimm]

[She shakes her head...]

No, you misunderstand... I was the technical winner of the last war - so I could use what ink we gathered to protect the people I could. However it did not count to end the war in its entirety since the round was interrupted, and she needed to return.

Just because I win a round does not mean that I get to decide that the war is over. Else I would have chosen to end this long ago.

[concasse]

... You really do got it tough, don't you?

[Just. Yikes to all of this.]

[themodsgrimm]

[She looks surprised for a moment.

Before she slowly shakes her head.]

... You all endure much more than I do.

It does not feel right to claim that.

[concasse]

It's not a matter of claiming.

We're all dealing with different shit... some more than others, but it doesn't undermine everything you've had to endure.

... In the end, my role is short. I can't imagine what it must be like, doing this for years.