"So you're just going to leave him there?" Nastasia was asking as Count Bleck approached the castle.
"Absolutely. He can do no harm."
"I mean... you're not going to try...?" She trailed off as she opened the door to the castle.
"You want to know if I'm going to even bother trying to make a friend out of an old enemy, don't you?"
Nastasia's blue face got the slightest tinge of red.
"I might have. If he had shown any sign of remorse, I would have considered it. But he didn't. He doesn't care, and all he's going to do is continue to hurt everyone around him in his downward spiral."
"Count, this isn't like you-"
"Nastasia, let me make something clear." Count Bleck's voice was stony as he pulled his hat down. "What Nawrocki did to us, what he planned to do to everyone, was unforgivable."
"Count... it wasn't any worse than what you did."
Count Bleck held his gloved hand up, flat and palm down, in front of him. "There's a line, Nastasia. Once you cross that line, you're never going back."
"You didn't even hesitate to forgive Glitter Sue back in the desert," said Nastasia. "What she did was reprehensible but you didn't care. You forgive everybody. Remember Chuck Quizmo's torture show? You didn't even hesitate. You even forgave Dimentio." She paused. "You did forgive him, didn't you?"
"This conversation is over."
"But Count-"
"This conversation is over, Nastasia." Count Bleck turned around and stalked away towards his study.
Nastasia pulled out her Mailbox SP and sent a quick message to Tippi: Yeah, so just an FYI? Your husband is going through some serious emotional turmoil. So if you could put dealing with that on the top of your to-do list, that would be super.
As it turned out, Count Bleck wouldn't even talk to his wife about it. He gave her the run-down of what happened at and after the meeting, as well as his explanation of why he reacted the way he did, and then he shut down. He refused to say anything more about not only the subject matter, but anything.
Tippi stayed with him, though. Whatever he was going through, she would wait until she was able to reach him. Count Bleck did not comment on her remaining in the room with him, but he did seem slightly less tense when she was close to him. He sat, his face buried in some old, musty tome of ancient magic that he kept around for research purposes, but it was clear it was just for show and he wasn't really reading.
At around one in the morning, when Tippi was sleeping on top of his hat, there was a light knock on the door.
"Come in," said Count Bleck, loud enough to be heard through the door but not one fraction of a decibel louder so as not to disturb his sleeping wife.
The door opened a crack and O'Chunks stuck his head in. "Eh... Count? There's somethin' yeh should probably be aware of..."
"Yes?"
"So... eh, remember that green fella a while back that tried to give us a good chunking with 'is robots?"
"Yes."
"... Well, 'e's outside right now."
"I see. And what is he doing?"
"Nothing. Just starin' and chewin' on something."
Count Bleck did not respond.
"Want me to chunk 'im?"
"If that pleases you."
O'Chunks waited for further instructions, but when there were none he quietly closed the door. He had not heard about the Count's recent breakdown, so he had no frame of reference for why the Count was so unimpressed. He felt it was his duty to keep an eye on the situation, so he went outside to where Nawrocki was planted, near a dead white bush, with a small bag of popcorn.
"Hey, he's back!" Nawrocki called, waving, with a big grin.
"And what's that yeh be chunkin' on?" asked O'Chunks.
"Is it always chunks with you?" Nawrocki tilted the bag towards O'Chunks so he could see for himself. "Want one?"
O'Chunks reached up to the bag, but stopped when he realized his fist was twice as big as the bag. Instead, he held his palm open and Nawrocki tipped a fair portion of kernels into his hand. O'Chunks inspected them very carefully before trying one.
"I like you, Blow Chunks," said Nawrocki. "You've got a good head directly on your shoulders without aid of a neck."
"Now, see, it sounds like yer insultin' me," said O'Chunks. "Me beard twitches whenever a friendly tone don't seem sincere."
Nawrocki chuckled and tossed a kernel into his mouth. "Oh, you've got me."
"What business d'yeh have here at the castle o' me Count?"
"Oh, I'm just here to watch the show," said Nawrocki. "I don't know how long the wait will be, but I don't want to miss it." He held the bag open and held it to his eye. "Huh. I think I'm gonna need more snackies." He looked up. "Y'all got any popcorn in there or no?"
"Yeh wouldn't be plannin' on threatening th' Count, would yeh?"
"Heavens, no," said Nawrocki. "I promise, noble O'Chunks, you and yours already won that fight."
"Didn't yeh go on about swearin' an undying oath of revenge on us or something?"
"That doesn't sound like something I'd do," said Nawrocki.
"Oh... I could've sworn-"
"I hate revenge," said Nawrocki. "You think it'll make you feel better, but you just feel empty. If someone takes something from you, be it world domination or... a loved one, and you take your revenge on them... well, it doesn't bring back what you lost. Thumping Count Bleck won't bring back my factory."
"It don't bring back the soldiers yeh lost, either," said O'Chunks.
Nawrocki nodded. "It's late. Why don't you go inside and get some sleep?"
"How can I be sure this ehn't a put-on? That yer plannin' on me catchin' winks before yeh put yer fiendish plan into action?"
"Because there's no sunlight in here," said Nawrocki. "Remember how I'm a plant? I eat sunlight to gain power?"
"It takes more'n a day fer yeh to lose yer power, don't it?"
"Yes, but I'm poor and homeless now. I don't have a reserve. I can only stay here for maybe three days before I'm too weak and pathetic to leave. If I do anything unseemly, that time gets cut drastically."
O'Chunks watched him warily, but all Nawrocki did was smile and eat popcorn. O'Chunks went back to the castle, and though he lay awake for a while wondering what this was all leading up to.