15[20:13] Whew. Long day. 15[20:13] Tepet Daizo leaves Garnet's bedside with more questions and, somehow, fewer answers. It's late now, and tomorrow promises to be longer and more dangerous still. 15[20:14] So now what? [20:18] 10Well, the first thing he does, is he's going to screw up his courage a little. One of the two bottles of the baijiu he fetched for Garnet earlier remains unbroken, the other having been smashed at some point during the disastrous vision quest, and he'll take it with him when he goes. [20:20] 10It doesn't do a damn thing for helping him put his thoughts in order, but it'll take the edge off.  15[20:21] Ahh, baijiu. The bad stuff tastes like a sick, wet dog smells. The good stuff... well, the dog is healthy. [20:23] 10So mostly he spends the next little bit on a balcony getting mildly soused and looking out over the city that, it seems, all of them have just agreed to put to the torch. 15[20:24] Maybe they'll rename it. 15[20:24] "Brightburn" has a certain ring to it. [20:27] 10Oh, very nice. Something something smoldering in the rainy season, something something the hubris of men, ahh fuck it that's a shitty poem idea.  [20:30] 10Well, anyway, it's a thoroughly dark hour (some would be tempted to say ungodly, but no, each hour of the day has its own allotment from the Roll of Divinities, they're all godly hours) when Daizo approaches their shared suite once again. For a moment he thinks he should knock, but nah. Just open the door like everything's fine. 15[20:33] The room is silent and dark. Caxi's shape is visible beneath the covers in their bed. Daizo told her not to wait up... and she said it would be fine if he woke her. [20:41] 10Daizo sits on his side of the bed with a sigh. He'll give Caxi's shoulder a few nudges. "Hey. It's me…" 15[20:42] It takes a couple tries — she's a fairly heavy sleeper. "Mmm?" She turns over to face him, and she smiles a bit. "Hey. How are you feeling?" [20:43] 10Daizo: "Better in some ways, worse in others. Can we talk?" 15[20:44] After a pause, Caxi pushes herself to a sitting position. "Of course. What d'you think? Tea, water, wine?" 15[20:45] "I get terribly thirsty in the middle of the night. What do you want?" [20:48] 10Daizo: "I've got about…" 10He shakes the bottle in the dark. "…a third of a bottle of some halfway-decent baijui here. Unless you'd like something a little more refined. Let me get a lamp lit up here." 15[20:48] "Oh my. Let's do that *and* water then." 15[20:49] While Daizo gets the lamp lit, Caxi gets a jug of water and some neat little glasses. She blows gently on each of them in turn and each one films over with frost. 15[20:52] It's a bit incongruous, this beautiful woman in a very fine, sheer black-and-white nightgown downing a shot of ice-cold baijiu and making a face like she just saw a dead animal's gut burst open with maggots. The expression of concern her face settles into once the disgust has passed probably doesn't help. [20:52] 10Daizo: "And to think I was drinking it at room temperature." 15[20:52] Firmly: "Not on my watch." [20:53] "Yes'm." [20:53] "So." [20:55] "We agreed I wasn't going to apologize to you again, but." 10Daizo swallows. "I wronged you twice today and I need to own up to it." 15[20:56] Caxi's violet eyes dance over Daizo's face, but she doesn't interrupt him. [21:00] 10Daizo: "I pilfered a vial from your medical bag—one of the small crystal ones. 'BEAUTY'. That's what Garnet and I took. And then, like a coward, I told you a lie about it right to your face." [21:01] "Garnet suggested we should've just tried getting drunk. I thought I had a better idea, and I looked in there and… I thought it was something intended to induce a specific emotional state." 15[21:03] Caxi: "What were the visions like?" [21:04] 10Daizo looks down into his empty glass. No refill yet. "Intense. I spoke to Garnet a little while ago, and it seems that although we shared a link via the jar, we experienced wildly different things." [21:04] "You were a central figure in both of our visions, though." 15[21:05] Caxi: "Not a positive one, I gather from your reactions to me earlier." [21:05] 10Daizo: "…you plunged a hand directly into my chest and froze me from the inside out." [21:06] "Then started speaking in voices that weren't yours. Weren't human, or remotely human." 15[21:06] "And then you woke up, and I put my hand on your chest..." [21:06] "And I freaked the fuck out." 15[21:06] "I assume Garnet's experience was similar?" [21:10] "She found herself on the ship, watching the both of us at it—" 10Daizo waves a hand "—that part, whatever. But in her vision you started talking in riddles and then she came out of it." 15[21:11] Caxi: "...huh." 15[21:13] After another shot of baijiu: "And in your visions, you were watching Garnet do things in her memories?" [21:14] 10Daizo: "No, I wasn't passively observing. It was like a play, and I was cast as Garnet. Seeing through her eyes, experiencing her sensations and memories." [21:15] "The very first scene I was placed in was when she was delivering a child." 15[21:15] Sharp intake of breath. 15[21:16] "And this would have been... before the Realm." 15[21:18] "You *felt* it, you're saying... the birth... the claw." [21:18] 10Daizo: "Long before. In the next one, Garnet was on a journey to where the Imperial City would be built, eventually. The great road was unmistakable, but everything else around it was ruined. She traveled with a companion, and you were playing the role of the companion." 15[21:18] "And this was where I attacked you." [21:19] 10Daizo: "Yeah. I felt it. All of it. Not just 'as if' it happened to me, but it was happening to me." [21:21] 10Daizo closes his eyes. "You asked me if I was afraid. I said… 'I don't think we have the luxury of being afraid', then 'I'm fucking terrified.' I don't know if these were my words or hers." [21:22] "Then you asked if I knew what was going on… then the claw." 15[21:25] Caxi: "Well, I will say this: you would not have gotten these experiences just from getting drunk." 15[21:26] "It sounds like there's a great deal in these visions, and perhaps much insight, much of import... we'll need to do a more detailed examination, I think, of your experiences and of hers." 15[21:27] "Perhaps once Brightwork is behind us." [21:28] 10Daizo nods. "The four of us spoke to Ratel, after I left the upper city." 15[21:28] Neutrally: "Oh?" [21:29] "She said Dryas' plan to take out the Moray was a plan for chumps and that we needed to set our sights higher." 15[21:29] Caxi: "Higher as in..." [21:31] "If we really want to keep Skullstone occupied and no threat to the Realm, we need to fuck up their position on Brightwork so badly that they'll be forced to commit to throwing resources to recapture it." [21:33] 10Daizo pours himself another shot. "So no sly plans or cheap trickery or sneaking around in the night. We crash the wedding and take out the Knight, the Abbot, and the Moray at the same time." [21:34] "And then we sail the fuck away and burn the docks behind us. Sounds simple, right?" 15[21:34] "From a certain point of view," concedes Caxi. [21:35] "Oh. Shit. Deled's awake. With everything else that happened I almost forgot to tell you." 15[21:35] "In good spirits?" [21:36] 10Daizo: "Stark raving mad. He thinks it's Furia that left him with chicken legs." 15[21:36] "No personality changes, then. That's good. I hope he dies soon." [21:36] "Piu told him about the Skullstoners and he's primed and ready to die gloriously. It might be simpler that way." [21:39] 10Daizo knocks back one more. He's finally starting to get a proper buzz on. "We got his story about Furia too. There was a time I might've looked up to him… not now, that's for sure. He put an entire village to the death for more or less being in the way." 15[21:40] Caxi gives herself a third shot of baijiu, and a third scowl to chase it. Her face has become much more expressive; emotions that scarcely rose to the surface are on full display now — fear, anger, guilt, disgust... "A change for the better. If I may editorialize." [21:41] 10Oh, is that better than consigning how many hundred Brightworkers to the Brightflame pyre? Shut up conscience. We're at least TRYING. 15[21:42] "I think... there is a conversation that needs to happen. Between you and me. About many things." [21:43] 10Daizo: "Honestly? I'm kind of liking being the new me too." 10This last passes without even a twinge. 15[21:43] Caxi smiles at that. [21:43] "Yeah. I need to… I need to stop blundering around like a damn fool. Getting an idea in my head and rushing off—" [21:44] 10Daizo: "Just what's in that 'BEAUTY' stuff, anyway?" 15[21:46] Caxi: "Those vials fit under an umbrella of extracts and concoctions that the mostly-learned call 'Yozi venom'." 15[21:48] "The labels are... I hadn't intended them to be read by anyone else. They're a bit ironic. What you and Garnet dosed is the Essence of Kimbery, the Sea That Marched Against The Flame." 15[21:49] "If either of you had been any weaker of constitution, the consequences could've been disastrous. Even if you survived, when your hearth discovered what had happened... I surely would not have." 15[21:49] "And we need to talk about what that means." Big, big sigh. "But not tonight." [21:49] 10Daizo: "…I don't—I don't know that name. Or much about the Demon Realm, to be honest. I've read the descriptions… and heard some stories…" 15[21:49] "We can talk about that too, if you like." 15[21:49] "May I touch you?" [21:50] 10Daizo: "Sure. I Think I'm over it now." 15[21:51] Caxi reaches out and, very gingerly, caresses Daizo's cheek and jaw. Does he flinch or recoil? [21:53] 10There's the last trace of a chill melting away like morning frost. "Mmm." [21:54] 10He'll cover Caxi's hand with his own.  15[21:55] That makes her smile again. [21:56] 10Daizo: "Are we good?" 15[21:56] "After you ran out, I was overcome with regret. It's strange. After we recovered the broken heart vessel — after all those people died — I have worked very hard to keep the rivalry between us from blossoming into suspicion and hatred. I thought, if I made myself colleagial, then perhaps we could work together." 15[21:57] "And when I got up in front of all those rubes and mouthbreathers and showed you, in the safest way I could think of, the Black Claw, I thought... tipping my hand would validate your suspicions of me, but in a way that made me seem more controllable." 15[21:58] "I was not expecting to grow so fond of you. And I was very much not expecting you to grow fond of me." [21:59] 10Daizo: "I think… it's because of the Cathak boy. You ran yourself nearly dead trying to save his life. And it made me look at you in an entirely new way." 15[21:59] "I believe we are good. But I am so..." she shakes her head. "We should leave it there for now. We are good. And we have much to discuss. But we need to get through this next day and this next night for any of that to matter." [22:00] "And the technique you brought to bear… it entranced me as well." 15[22:01] Caxi rubs the tears that bud in her eyes with the heel of her hand. "Ah, well. There's no accounting for taste, I suppose." A weak, breathy chuckle. 15[22:01] "So I think... we should get some rest. And get ready for tomorrow. And let the next day be the next day." 15[22:02] "Do you think we can do that? Are we good?" [22:02] 10Daizo: "i think so. And then after all of this, after Brightwork… then I have so many questions to ask you." [22:03] "We are good." 15[22:03] "I promise, after Brightwork, there is nothing I won't tell you. I owe you that much. I owe myself that much. Whatever happens between us after that." 15[22:03] "Come to bed." [22:04] "Mmhmm. I'll put out the light."