[ They'll fight again, he thinks. Stiffening as he is roused from restless slumber, he looks hazily at Shanks and frowns. The reaction is immediate, the follow up — slower. The way he uncoils with resignation, and sits up attentively. He will always do what he does not want, in the end. ]
Fine, we will. I have something to share with you anyways. You first.
( he doesn't want to fight. he doesn't want to make set unhappy. but he doesn't know how to reconcile what anora has given him with the adoration he knows set holds for armand. how to balance the sick, vicious feeling in his stomach with the compulsive need to give set everything he wants.
with a sigh, weary and reluctant: )
Alright. ( grabbing his phone from the nightstand, opening ani's message. the checklist. every point like a dagger between his ribs. ) Here. Anora sent me this. If he's responsible for Koby —
( he can't finish that sentence. doesn't want to. they both know what he's capable of. that what he did to saber was a warning. and what he could do to armand is retribution. )
[ He's still quiet, as he takes Shanks's phone from him and turns on the text-to-voice function. To listen to each point, his expression narrowing further and further the longer it goes on. It's not a bad list, and he admires Ani immensely for her brilliance. Her tongue. ]
It is not an incorrect assumption.
[ It's a good set-up. Set thinks: I will kill him before any of you can, vicious and territorial over his adherent, his worshipper whom he can never turn from. Not this time, not again. He is a bad and horrible god who does not deserve adoration, but he received it. And he will never let it go. Not Shanks's, not Armand's. He is too greedy and selfish, and too good at burning bridges. ]
I do not know about Koby, but I know... there is another who could do as he does. And accusation of her will not seem a grudgematch, because I heard her voice when she had me walk out of our bed to my death.
Wanda Maximoff. Powers to compel, powers of reality-bending that could emulate any ability. She was in the magic-users chat... they divulged all their special abilities like idiot children. She would know how to make it look like August. She even has powers of flight — as Spike was so wont to express as reason it was Armand, too. She's terrified of her own power, she's controlled three thousand people — what's five to her? She's a Diamond. Red collar. August was blamed but — what if it was her?
( how can you ask me that? he wants to say, the words thick on his tongue, heavy as he swallows them down. he reads the conversation again and again, an ache burning in his chest. they're not so dissimilar, he thinks, set and wanda.
and perhaps it's because shanks would have done something dangerously foolish if he hadn't had armand's company the last week — perhaps it's that shared grief, the shared communion, that allows him to be swayed. perhaps, too, because it's easier. because he's tired and he wants this to be over. (because when it's over and done with, koby will return to them.) because, most importantly, it satisfies that impossible condition: koby, avenged; set, appeased.
after a long moment of weighing set's words, his admission, his argument, shanks eventually decides: )
Wanda, then. ( setting the phone down, shifting to take set's face in his hand. ) Not one ever named your killer in the days you were gone. ( only argued about set's character in defense of someone else. ) I would see that rectified before the trials end.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ They'll fight again, he thinks. Stiffening as he is roused from restless slumber, he looks hazily at Shanks and frowns. The reaction is immediate, the follow up — slower. The way he uncoils with resignation, and sits up attentively. He will always do what he does not want, in the end. ]
Fine, we will. I have something to share with you anyways. You first.
no subject
with a sigh, weary and reluctant: )
Alright. ( grabbing his phone from the nightstand, opening ani's message. the checklist. every point like a dagger between his ribs. ) Here. Anora sent me this. If he's responsible for Koby —
( he can't finish that sentence. doesn't want to. they both know what he's capable of. that what he did to saber was a warning. and what he could do to armand is retribution. )
no subject
It is not an incorrect assumption.
[ It's a good set-up. Set thinks: I will kill him before any of you can, vicious and territorial over his adherent, his worshipper whom he can never turn from. Not this time, not again. He is a bad and horrible god who does not deserve adoration, but he received it. And he will never let it go. Not Shanks's, not Armand's. He is too greedy and selfish, and too good at burning bridges. ]
I do not know about Koby, but I know... there is another who could do as he does. And accusation of her will not seem a grudgematch, because I heard her voice when she had me walk out of our bed to my death.
Wanda Maximoff. Powers to compel, powers of reality-bending that could emulate any ability. She was in the magic-users chat... they divulged all their special abilities like idiot children. She would know how to make it look like August. She even has powers of flight — as Spike was so wont to express as reason it was Armand, too. She's terrified of her own power, she's controlled three thousand people — what's five to her? She's a Diamond. Red collar. August was blamed but — what if it was her?
[ he trades phones, somber ]
What do you want to do, Shanks? Do not think of making me happy. I will survive a difference of opinion.
no subject
and perhaps it's because shanks would have done something dangerously foolish if he hadn't had armand's company the last week — perhaps it's that shared grief, the shared communion, that allows him to be swayed. perhaps, too, because it's easier. because he's tired and he wants this to be over. (because when it's over and done with, koby will return to them.) because, most importantly, it satisfies that impossible condition: koby, avenged; set, appeased.
after a long moment of weighing set's words, his admission, his argument, shanks eventually decides: )
Wanda, then. ( setting the phone down, shifting to take set's face in his hand. ) Not one ever named your killer in the days you were gone. ( only argued about set's character in defense of someone else. ) I would see that rectified before the trials end.