I sit back in my chair with a sigh of frustration, and stare at my Script desk. For the last five years since I became a full samurai, and so had an actual private space to work, when I've had time between missions and other activities, I've been going through my notebook of finished Scripts. Recreating each Script to make sure that they'd still work in this new world the way I remember them working. I have an impressive number of them, more than I thought I had, really. And even better, most of them still work perfectly, and those that didn't only needed a small adjustment that was relatively easy by the scale of Scripts.
There are exceptions, though. One of which I've been struggling with for the last year, and I'm finally getting to the point where I'm giving up on it. I've been trying to make the Script for making Power of Destruction work, and it just... doesn't. No matter what I try I can't get any PoD to actually manifest. As far as I can tell there's nothing wrong with the Script, it just doesn't work.
In an effort to try and nail down where the problem is, I tried other variations on it. I tried to make generic devil power, angelic Light, youki, anything that I could find the symbols for.
None of it worked.
The Script would activate and run just fine, reach the conclusion, and then nothing. If anything was created, it dissipated too quickly to actually be noticed.
Which is frustrating, because I think a pressurized gourd of PoD would be a fantastic surprise for most ninja. On the other hand, it does validate my decision to rely on life energy and mana as a power source and avoid any other options. Never mind actually trying to bring any of my supernatural friends here. As near as I can tell, this entire universe treats any of the powers from DxD the same way the territory I altered around Kuoh high school treated Light. Basically, thanks to the way the laws of physics are written here, they're things that just can't be.
At least as far as I can tell.
Really, I'm guessing.
I'm not sure what frustrates me more, my inability to make the Scripts work, or my inability to figure out why they don't work.
With a sigh, I push back from the desk and run my hands through my hair. I'm not going to be making any more progress on this with my current frustration. So instead, I walk out of my rooms and into the semi-private training courtyard that the Shouji have gotten for me. Hayate and Takeshi both insisted on it once they got an idea of the kinds of things I'm sitting on, even with everything I'm showing.
Generally, I subscribe to the samurai theory of combat. That a technique is useless if you don't use it, and once you do it's in the open and it's not going to be a secret any more. So really there's no point in trying to keep skills and techniques hidden. Instead, get good enough at them so that the only thing knowing what you're about to do gets your enemy, is knowledge of how they're going to die.
That being said, there are things I'm sitting on, not to keep them effective in some theoretical future moment, but because people knowing about them will cause problems outside of combat. My telekinesis, exactly how much I can do with my Script, the details of my relationship with my cats and, of course, my ability to steal traits.
Trait theft might come out eventually, I'm certainly not going to stop using it, but I'm never going to admit to how it's done or what one has to do to make it work.
That sounds exactly like how to get hunted by the entirety of the ninja world. I'll pass, thanks.
So, private courtyard to practice things and develop skills I don't really want to own up to just yet. And really, even if I'm not going to hide things, there's no reason to advertise something until I have to use it.
In one corner of the courtyard is my practice set up for Ripple the Still Pond, Ku's hydrostatic shock technique. I wander over to the first part of it, a barrel filled with water. I strike the barrel with an open hand causing a ripple to converge inward to the center where a single drop of water flies into the air, and drops back into the water. A phenomenon which indicates I've managed to master the first step of things. Also the easiest.
The technique is easier the more of the target that's water, so a barrel full of only water is... Well easy isn't the right word, it took almost seven years of practice to get that part down, but easy by the standards of the technique.
Moving on to the second training method, I meet my current challenge. A hollowed out hardwood log that I would pack full of a soaking wet, rolled up tatami mat. If I can strike the outside of the log and get the water in the tatami to break the fibers in the mat, then I could use it on an armored person and expect to rupture a few organs.
That hasn't really happened yet.
So, a work in progress.
Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.
The other area of the courtyard is far more open, but also far more roughly used. It's covered in scorch marks, cracked stone, and other signs of experimentation.
Since I got my athame and my tattoos back, I've taken every opportunity to grab as many elemental affinities as I possibly could. I can't tell what element I'm getting when I collect it, or even afterwards, but I really don't have to. By the law of averages, after collecting affinities for years, I have to have gotten a pretty good spread of all the basic five by now. So recently I've felt that I've collected enough elemental talent to make up for my complete ignorance of how elemental mana is supposed to work, and to actually give using my affinities a shot.
Results have been mixed.
Okay, no. Results have sucked.
The first thing I learned is that once mana passes my skin, it's not mine anymore. Unlike chakra, that the users continue to have some control over while projecting it, life energy ceases to be mine the moment it exits my body. Leaving me with absolutely zero control over it.
On the other hand, in continuation of what I'd discovered earlier, my control over the mana which is mine is nigh perfect. I can move it around my body however I want in whatever volume I feel like. It's made my use of things like my telekinesis and my doujutsu far more efficient. Even flying angel style and my glamor have gotten somewhat less energy expensive.
Mixing that control with altering the elemental balance of my mana has led to one or two things that might be useful. Running earth aspected mana through the network in my skin hardens wherever the mana is like stone. Makes for great improvised armor or striking aid. It's really my best trick, and what led to the cracked flagstones.
The only other thing I've managed to do in any kind of useful fashion is to set myself on fire. By aspecting my mana towards fire and then pushing it out of my body I can surround myself with a corona of fire. Not sure what use it has, especially given how fast it runs through my stored life energy, but it looks cool.
I tried to do the same thing with lightning mana... and discovered that 'fire proof' does not equal 'lightning proof'. I almost killed myself trying that one and only survived thanks to my bullshit regeneration.
As an extension of the energy corona trick, I've discovered that I can channel my own energy through Sclamhaire and as Vivain had said when I got her, the sword makes an excellent focus for my own power. So I can totally do the flaming sword trick, which again, not sure what use it'll have, but it looks really really cool. Tried that one with lighting too, and electrocuted myself again.
I've tried various things with air, and water mana, but haven't really gotten anywhere with it. I'm beginning to think that I'll really need to get some help from people who know what they're doing with this stuff if I'm going to make any significant progress.
The problem of course being that nobody here has the first clue about manipulating mana, Elemental or otherwise.
So I'm kinda shit outta luck.
"Ericka?" Miku's voice floats out of the door behind me leading to my rooms. "I'm here to help you get ready! Where are you?"
I sigh. Speaking of being SOL.
"Just out in the yard. I'll be right in," I call back. I head back inside, smacking the side of the water barrel on my way. Creating another perfect ripple and water drop.
Miku is waiting for me in the middle of my room, and the moment she sees me she plants her hands on her hips and looks me up and down, and shakes her head. "You need a bath. Really Ericka, you know what tonight is, did you have to get all sweaty?"
I grin at her slightly, walking up to her, "I thought you liked me sweaty."
She grabs me by my collar and pulls me into a kiss, her soft lips pressing gently against mine as well as we can both manage while smiling. "I'll admit I find you very attractive post-workout," she says coyly, and gazes up at me with a sultry look through her eyelashes, but then her expression changes to a smirk and pushes me towards my bathroom. "But I'm not the one you need to impress right now. Go, you have a dinner to get ready for."
I sigh and obey her urging. She's right, after all. Since my unique abilities became known, various nobles and other powerful people in and around Iron had been clamoring to get their hands on me in various ways. Saki, for all that our relationship could still be called strained at best, has done a fantastic job of keeping them off of me. Mostly by citing my age.
Technically, I became an adult upon graduating to full samurai. But graduating early is such a rare thing that it's basically unheard of. So most of the social rules and conventions still work off age.
Now, though, I'm fifteen, which means that by all measures I'm an adult, and can make my own decisions, and the Shouji aren't allowed to keep people away from me any more. Nominally, this is for my benefit, so that patrons can't keep their beneficiaries isolated. But all that means to me is that I can't just avoid individuals from different political factions without giving offense to people I really don't want mad at me.
So with obvious reluctance I trudge my way towards the bath.
Miku, the traitor, just giggles at my pain.
Time to get ready for a kind of battle I'm entirely untrained for.
Politics.
###
I come back out far too short a time later with a towel wrapped around my body and another around my hair. Miku meets me with another smile and a quick kiss.
"I may like you post-workout, but fresh and clean you also has a certain appeal," she tells me with a grin. Miku and I aren't really together for a variety of reasons. Reasons that boil down to, she's the daughter of a powerful and influential noble house, and I'm an orphan that the same house picked up off the streets. She'll be required to marry for the good of her family, and I appear nowhere on the list of those to consider. Honestly, us both being girls would be easier to get around than that. Not to mention that Saki would never approve, which is admittedly at least part of the appeal for both of us. So no actual dating, and we have to keep our activities strictly under control.
Which basically means that we practice kissing. A lot. While trying very hard to keep it from the rest of her family. Ironically, our worst case scenario for discovery isn't Saki, it's Takuma, Miku's brother. Saki we can at least depend on to be rational about her objections and responses. Takuma on the other hand has never really shed the crush he developed on me while we were little. He never really shed the cruelty that led him to trying to force feed a worm to his sister when we met. We have no idea what he might do out of petty jealousy, and we're not really interested in finding out.
So lots of kissing practice. At least it isn't hard to find time to ourselves. We've been friends since we were five, and we never really stopped having sleepovers with each other. So nobody really thought anything of it now.
"Come on, Nel has everything laid out and we're working on a deadline. Let's get started."
I'm pushed into a prepared chair in the middle of the room, still clad only in towels. The one on my head is removed swiftly and Miku attacks my head with combs. All the while Miku explains to Nel what she's doing and why. While Nel is a competent and much appreciated attendant in the normal course of things, she'd never had any reason, or way, to learn human beautification. The closest my cats get to long hair are lion's manes, claws are maintained via scratching posts, and fur care is nothing like skin care. The less said about makeup the better.
Since I needed to get dressed up significantly, Nel took the initiative to get in touch with Miku and recruit her to both get me ready in this instance, and teach Nel how to get me dressed up like this in the future.
Something I'm not overly excited about.
I like pretty dresses, fancy jewelry, and looking my best as much as the next girl. But this sort of production is just ridiculous.
Miku and Nel finish up with my hair and I'm directed to stand. Because it's time for the kimono. Nel takes my last towel leaving me bare. I turn to glare at Miku over my shoulder when she doesn't immediately start helping me get dressed again.
I think she's enjoying this a little too much.
After a pointedly cleared throat, and a spectacular blush from Miku, she and Nel start putting clothes on me. All twelve layers of them.
"Why do I have to wear all of this?" I ask as Nel arranges each layer to sit properly in front and Miku starts tying my obi.
"These colors, pattern, and layering all indicate maximum formality," Miku explains as she finishes tying the wide cloth belt-like garment around my waist, and directs me to sit again. "With this you're setting the level of required manners to the most restrictive option." With me sitting again, Miku begins to work over my nails. Trimming, polishing, and painting them with a clear varnish. "This will make it almost impossible for Lord Atsushi to pressure you in front of the other guests."
"So what you're telling me is that this," I raise the hand she's not currently working on to touch the collar of the kimono. "is all the armor I'm going to get for tonight."
Miku hums agreement, the tip of her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth adorably as she concentrates. Which leaves me to sigh and gaze longingly at my armor stand and the samurai armor on it.
My sigh gets Miku's attention and she turns to see what I'm looking at. After a moment she turns to me with a frown, "Where did that leather belt come from? And what's with the pouch on it?"
I sigh again far more dramatically, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Miku." She looks back at me with a quizzical expression. I roll my eyes but answer, "I traveled through time and space in a dream and brought that back with me as a souvenir."
MIku huffs, "If you didn't want to tell me..."
I roll my eyes harder, "Told you, you wouldn't believe it."
She slaps my shoulder, carefully not disturbing any of her work, and then moves on from my nails. Nel, at Miku's direction, sets up a small table next to my chair, and sets up a large box of makeup that expands and unfolds like a tackle box, just more so. While Nel is setting that up she climbs onto my chair and straddles my lap. Leaning forward she cups my cheek and kisses me again softly, which I'm more than willing to return. She pulls back after a moment with a cheeky smirk on her face, which I respond to with a quirked eyebrow.
Miku shrugs, "I won't be able to do that in a moment without smudging something, so I thought I'd get my last one in before it became a problem. Now, close your eyes, and hold still. No talking while I do your makeup." With another sigh, and a small smile I can't quite seem to suppress, I do as instructed and close my eyes.
I actually manage to sink into a light meditation as Miku goes over my face with creams, powders, brushes, and a dozen other things I can't identify with my eye's closed. I probably wouldn't be able to identify them with my eyes open. What I know about makeup, especially as it's handled in pseudo-feudal not-Japan, could fit on a postage stamp. And would basically consist of, 'it exists'. So I try to let some of the tension out of my body as Miku explains everything to Nel as she works.
I'm not sure how long that takes, but it feels like far too long. When the pair of Miku and Nel finally finish though, the rest of getting ready goes rather quickly. Jewelry is minimal, consisting of a pair of loaned hair pins made of finely wrought silver and tiny bells that chime pleasantly whenever I move my head.
"And!" Miku says after putting the hair pins in. "Earrings. I even found somebody to make the 'clip on' fastener that you described." Oh, good. I doubt that the fire of my regeneration melting the earrings would go over well.
With the jewelry taken care of, all that's left are my shoes, simple slippers that look nice, but are basically embroidered cloth. Finally done, Nel wheels a full length mirror in front of me so I can at last see what the two of them have done.
In my last life, I probably would have suffered a lot more insecurity about my looks, hanging around Sarah, if I'd devoted any thought at all to such things. Really, looking back on that part of my life now, I can be far more objective about my appearance. I wasn't really as plain as I had thought myself. Comparing my appearance then to the average people I see around me now, I was... cute. Basically the perfect example of the tomboy next door. I was just unfortunate enough that my best friend looked like supermodels and actresses wanted to look, and everybody else I interacted with was a supernatural of some sort. And those sorts are always prettier than they should be. So I fell dramatically short in the comparison, but the comparison was skewed.
But those sorts of anxieties never bothered me in my second life, because I'd stolen the trait necessary to be objectively beautiful. A trait that I'm beginning to suspect is being affected by my vampire network's gradual improvement just like my more combative or physical powers.
So I come out pretty favorably appearance wise compared to most. I'd never used makeup before, because now I'm one of those lucky girls who don't need it. In spite of that, Miku had managed to make me look... better. The combination of kimono, jewelry, and makeup have taken me from sexually attractive, to aesthetically gorgeous. Like a walking, talking piece of art.
I can't help but let out a low whistle in appreciation. Something that causes Miku to gain a smug look, that I'm sorry to say is probably deserved.
"Soooo...?" Miku asks, her smug increasing.
I sigh, "It looks fantastic, Miku." I have to smile as my long time friend does a tiny victory dance on the spot. Shaking my head with a grin I can't quite suppress, I turn to Nel. Only one thing left to do before I walk into the lion's den. "Call them."
Nel nods once, seriously, and goes through the procedure to summon the prepared troops from the Temple. After a long pause, there's a large billowing of white smoke which clears quickly. Left behind are six cats. Three ocelots on four legs, and three house cats on two. These are six of the best combat capable stealth operatives I have available, which means they're six of the best in all the clans of Felidae.
One of the ocelots takes a couple of steps forward in front of the small squad, and gives me a slow blink and looks away from me towards the floor. An action that the rest of the ocelots mimic, while the house cat's on two legs simply bow.
"Princess," the spokes-ocelot purrs, "how may we serve?" She looks back up at me as she speaks with her whiskers pushed forward in a feline smile.
I smile back at her and the rest of my stealth specialists. "I have a formal dinner tonight, with a nobleman who... may not be either noble or an ally. He advocates samurai fighting more like ninja, and he's rather desperate to get his hands on my bloodlines."
"And given these two facts, you want a contingency ready to go," the ocelot in charge nods thoughtfully. "Very well Princess, we are ready to serve, what is our mission?"
I straighten up and assume the more formal posture and voice that I've developed for acting as the Princess of Cats. "Shadow my palanquin to the location of the dinner, take up surveillance positions around the estate. If any of you witness anything that looks like a fight, or even a struggle, or I'm in there for more than two hours without a check in, you come and get me."
"As you command, Princess," the cats say in unison.
Well. I'm now armed and armored as much as I can be for the event. More so even as my athame and Sclamhaire rest in my soul, ready to be called. My armor still isn't quite done yet, though it's close enough that I can't really tell what's still broken. Only that when I try to summon it, it feels like pressing on an open cut.
And now I'm stalling.
God, I don't want to do this.
A formal dinner where they either try to diplomance me, or get their sons of my age to try and seduce me.
Gag.
So into the breach, and hope that I won't have to do it once more.
###
A palanquin is an odd way to travel. It seems like a method to show off, more than anything else. A carriage would work just as well, but instead you have four to six people carrying what basically amounts to a four poster bed with curtains. My cats have gone ahead to set up their positions, and bringing a personal attendant would be rude, basically implying that I don't trust the host's hospitality to be up to standards, so the palanquin is also a very boring way to travel.
Thus the frustratingly long trip through the capital city leaves me with nothing to do. So in spite of my best efforts, I find myself going over what's supposed to happen tonight, again. My dinner invitation came from Lord Atsushi, one of the highest ranking members of the faction advocating a more ninjaesque approach to war and samurai in general.
The invitation is for a formal dinner with Lord Atsushi and several more nobles of that faction. It isn't explicitly stated in the invitation, but is certainly implied that this is a recruitment attempt. So I'm anticipating offers of power, possibly seduction attempts.
Attempts which will probably be spectacularly awkward. I've made no secret of my sexuality, but these people want my genes, my 'bloodlines'. Given that, I suspect I'm going to deal with a lot of people who either don't believe me, or think that I 'just haven't met the right man'.
Gag.
Not looking forward to that.
The palanquin jolts as it's set down, and I can't help but let out a soft sigh of relief.
Finally we've arrived.
One of the carriers pulls the curtains open and offers a hand to help me down from the slightly raised platform. Something that I normally wouldn't need, but in the highly restrictive formal wear I've got on, I'm happy for the help. If I tried on my own I'd either fall flat on my face, or tear the kimono. Neither of which would be good.
So I accept the hand and step down onto the street. The palanquin carriers have delivered me to the front gates of the walled compound of the Atsushi family. The gates stand open, and after a quick thanks to the carriers, I head inside. The front courtyard is a large garden. A surfeit of green vegetation and trees that in no way are native to Iron. Keeping them alive must be a constant and expensive endeavor. Part of that is a pair of water features arranged as a series of drops between many small pools, one set up on either side of the path. The result of which is a constant white noise, and filling the normally very dry air of the capitol with the sort of humidity that the surrounding plants need.
Walking down the path, I enjoy the damp air and the scents of the variety of flowers that fill it. I walk slowly trying to sort out the various scents, but there are so many different ones, and so many flowers I know nothing about, that trying to match a scent in the air to particular sources is basically impossible. At least without spending more time on it than I'm willing to.
I am on a schedule, after all.
The large front doors of the house proper open as I approach, a servant waiting for me there. I'm ushered in and quickly led to the dining room. The dining room is a large hall, with a long table down the middle. It's pretty much exactly what I'd expect, except that there's only one person seated at said table. Even more damning is that there are only two place settings, one in front of the man seated at the head of the table, and the second setting is at the seat directly to his left.
I hesitate in the doorway trying to decide what I should do. Leave?
Spectacularly rude, though not out of the question.
Take my seat? That would be the polite option, though I'm not sure it's a good idea.
The problem of course is that just leaving might actually be worse in the long run than staying. Given the honor and rigid etiquette based society of Iron, nobody would respond well to me dishonoring a high noble in his own house as my first foray as an adult into politics and the social scene.
The man, Lord Atsushi I'll bet, stands and gives me a bow to exactly the correct depth to communicate great respect for a nominal social inferior. "Ericka Rhostana," he doesn't get the pronunciation quite right, it's obvious that he hasn't practiced saying my name, "be welcome in my home. Enter without malice, leave without harm."
The formal language makes me slightly more comfortable with the whole situation. It's a commitment to the laws of hospitality, or in simpler language, if I don't start anything, there won't be anything.
With that I bow back, as close to correct as I can manage. Basically just a bit deeper than his own bow. "Lord Atsushi, thank you for the invitation and welcome into your home... Have I arrived early?"
"No! Of course not. It seems that my fellows have all simply had to cancel their attendance due to other commitments and duties."
Well, shit. I don't believe that for a moment, even without my eyes on. He wasn't trying overly hard at it.
"Please," the Lord of the house waves at the single place setting to his left, "sit, and enjoy the efforts of my chefs."
I take a moment, close my eyes, and take in a deep breath of mana and air. My senses explode, both range and clarity increase by several orders of magnitude. Performing a quick scan of the house and surrounding grounds... I find nothing unexpected. No large concentration of people, except where I think the kitchen would be, based on its relative position to the dining room I'm standing in. The only person with anything approaching an amount of chakra out of the ordinary, is the man in front of me. And while he certainly has more than the average civilian, a genin has more.
So clearly not an ambush. I'll be sure to check everything provided to me, food, drink, even the glass, plate, and silverware, for the scent of poisons. At the moment though it doesn't seem like I'm in any kind of physical danger. And I'm more than willing to be rude in rejecting anything he proposes if I need to.
So with that established, I move forward to take the offered seat.
The thought that keeps running around in circles in my mind though, is how god damned useless my so called 'social armor' turned out to be.
Next time I'm wearing actual armor and everybody else can just suck it up.
###
The dinner ends up being actually fairly pleasant. Lord Atsushi manages the conversation well, always keeping it interesting and informative, and never hovering on a topic long enough for it to go stale. There are more than a few times he tried, and failed, to subtly extract more information about my various 'bloodlines', and if I have any more that hadn't been publicly shown. Which I did, but I'm not telling him that. He also spent a certain amount of time talking up his son, and various other young men of his acquaintance. And young men is absolutely the right term. I find it more than a little interesting that all the boys he mentioned to me are at least five years older than I am. Thinking about using a more mature parner to more easily manage the teenage girl?
Joke's on you.
Eventually though, the meal is finished and the dishes are carried away. Lord Atsushi sits back in his chair and studies me for a moment or two before speaking.
"Dessert will be ready soon, but we should take the time to finally discuss business. I don't think my reasons for inviting you here are anything of a mystery," he says calmly.
I'd love to match his relaxed posture, but my layers of kimono don't really allow for it. It leaves me feeling like a subordinate paying rapt attention to a superior, a superior who doesn't think enough of me to extend the same courtesy.
"No. Your faction is well known to me. As is your interest in me," I tell him trying to maintain the same calm voice he is. I'm not sure how well I do. He's managed some impressive heating in this large room, maybe with seals? But the layering of my clothes is leaving me feeling overheated.
Lord Atsushi nodded, "I suppose you would be informed. Although Lady Shouji and her brothers are tragically short sighted, they are not the sort to send you to such a meeting uninformed."
"No, they are not." I take my water glass, pressing it to my lips without drinking. Instead I take a quick sniff to check for poisons, even though I'd already checked it several times. I couldn't shake the idea that the heat of the room is there to encourage me to drink, thus getting a larger dose of... whatever. But, as before, the water smelled like nothing but water, so I drank. "But feel free to make your pitch."
"My pitch," he chuckles, "I like that. Very well, my 'pitch'. The fact of the matter is that we, Iron, have gotten very lucky. Our samurai are powerful, nobody is denying that. The problem is that in the same time period it takes to graduate a single class of samurai, the Hidden Villages can produce two classes of ninja. Not as powerful sure, but any of the great villages has far more ninja than we have samurai. How many ninja would it take to overwhelm a samurai? Two? Four?" Really it depends on who the samurai is. And who the ninja are, I guess. "Whatever the number is, the villages throw away that many on a regular basis. And that's not even addressing how much more powerful a top tier ninja is than a similarly ranked samurai." Now that's just not true. We're less flashy certainly, but not less capable combatants, at all. Also, how is this room so hot? I chug the rest of my glass of water, and am more grateful than I probably should be that a servant immediately refills my glass. "But the greatest strength of the villages are their bloodlines." Again, not sure about that. I continue listening to Lord Atsushi, at the same time I find myself rubbing my fingers together. When did I hit my funny bone? They're remarkably numb and tingly. "And you, my dear," ugh, "are the key to catching up with them. Your blood could start six or seven new clans." He's getting excited about it now, the excitement of a fanatic. "The rewards for such service would, of course, be great. The matriarch of however many clans are established. The power and wealth that comes with being nobility however many times over. Any man or boy that you want. Or even as many as you want!" He leans forward as his excitement grows.
Or maybe he's just trying to get me excited by acting that way? Why can't I tell? Normally I'd be able to smell that, but my thinking is getting fuzzy. Did I drink too much?
No.
I only drank water to prevent precisely this.
Maybe I'm just tired?
Doesn't matter. I already know my answer to this.
"As good an offer as that is," which it's not, "there are several problems with it. First, I have no interest in men. Less than none, even. Second, even if I did, I'm sterile. I couldn't have kids if I wanted to. Which I don't. Lastly..." I have to pause for a moment to rub my face with numb fingers.
That should have cleared up by now, shouldn't it?
"Fourth? Fifth? Secondly." He's smirking at me. Why is he smirking? "Secondly, I just don't agree with your... your... con-con-conciliation? You're wrong."
He heaves a sigh, though still smirking. "I guess we won't be having dessert after all."
"Why?" Have I been drugged? Is that why he's talking about dessert? "Wha' you do to it?" The room is starting to tilt back and forth like a rocking boat. Which is ridiculous, nobody would be silly enough to put an entire manor on the ocean. That's just ridiculous. Wait... Focus, I'm in the middle of something, "Poishn?"
"No, I didn't poison the dessert." He leans forward, or at least I think he does. The whole world is warping. "I put the antidote in it." Antidote? But... "The poison was in the fountains. You got dosed before you walked in the door."
I surge to my feet, and nearly fall over from the room rocking. I grab the table with one hand to steady myself. With a pull on one specific part of my soul, black mist erupts out of my hand and quickly coalesces into Sclamhaire. My numb fingers can't hold it, though, so she falls from my grip, sinking deeply into the floor. A moment later my legs give out, and I follow.
Leaving me sprawled out on the floor as much as my clothing allows.
Lord Atsushi moves around the corner of the table, looking strangely steady with how much the room is rocking. He leans against the table looking down at me, I think he leans forward, but my vision is fuzzing out and I can't tell.
"If you will not serve Iron willingly, that's fine. You will serve it anyway," he says with an audible smile.
Then there's nothing.
