(no subject)

[sythyry]

Aftermaths [7 Hispis 4385]

Sythyry vs. Sazandigraa, round 1

Me:"I am tempted to evict Grinwipey, if not outright execute him."

Saza:"I don't recommend executing him, coz. Executing his uncle did not work very well for me."

Me:"I'm entirely within my rights to evict him from my ship. In mid-air."

Saza:"I beg you to reconsider, coz. It is rather important to me that everything appear as normal as possible. I should very much dislike anyone asking questions such as, 'Why did Sythyry toss zir client and expert artist out of the skyboat all of a sudden?'"

Me:"Evicting a foulmouthed Khtsoyis is hardly that unusual."

Saza:"Though how you had managed not to notice that he was a foulmouthed Khtsoyis before now is somewhat of a mystery."

Me:"People may dismiss it as a lover's quarrel. I'm sure they suspect me as it is."

Saza:"I should prefer the pretence of utter and complete normality. And not for the sake of your reputation, coz. Though I do appreciate the offer of a sacrifice."

Me:"OK, nothing that awakens outside suspicions. I am going to go yell at him."

Because I am so very, very good at yelling at people.

Sythyry vs. Grinwipey

I confronted my evil Khtsoyis in his bedroom.

Me:"That wasn't at all appropriate."

Grinwipey:"Neither's torturing a poor honest shoggie just doing his job. Neither's making those Gnarn-nuggering mind control spells."

Me:"You have an acute sense of justice, then?"

Grinwipey:"Nothing cute on a shoggy."

Me:"Stop acting cute, then."

Rather to my surprise, he did.

Grinwipey:"My point being, when my aged mother found out I was going out of town with you 'n the grail-tail for a few years, 'n visiting your relatives on the way, she comes up with a helpful little errand I can do. I'm just her messenger, is all. And just your seamstress."

Me:"Well, do you have any other messages or errands or ... anything else I'm going to be unhappy about when it happens?"

Grinwipey:"Nah, nothing I expect you'll be unhappy about. One more message, though."

Me:"Care to show me in advance? Your other choice being to float back to Vheshrame."

Grinwipey:"Can't really show you in advance, just ain't possible."

Me:"Then you'd better ... [interrupted]"

Grinwipey:"Aw, I don't mean to smutter your butter, Sythyry. All I'm sayin' is it's a message to you, 'n I can't properly show you before I show you, now, can I? "

Me:"I suppose I must genuflect before the altar of logic. But what is this message?"

So Grinwipey floated over and flipped a box open. Two bottles of excellent brandy, a box of excellent meditation incense, and a set of green ribbons. Underneath, a cloth reading: With Supreme Apologies. -e -g

Grinwipey:"'-g' is me."

Me:"Apology or no apology, I am still responsible for you, as your patron. If you involve me in any more plots against my relatives, I will ... prove harder to blackmail than Sazandigraa. I don't have any secrets bigger than the occasional crush that I don't do anything about."

Grinwipey:"Sure, me 'n m'aged mother 'n m'uncle and all are quivering all our tentacles at the thought of your wizardly wrath." He shook a few tentacles to make his point more plausible, though I didn't much believe it. "I'll be good as groundnuts from now on. Good as poodle-shagging groundnuts."

I didn't much believe that either, but ... I am trying to take care of him, out of regard for his art at least. And of course I can't evict Grinwipey without risking getting Sazandigraa's story revealed, if nothing else, and that's Sazandigraa's call.

Sythyry vs. Saza, round 2

Me:"It's hard to discipline a Khtsoyis who is holding blackmail materials on you, but I have done what I could do. Rather, what I could do without actively causing you trouble."

Saza:"I appreciate that."

Me:"What approach shall we take?"

Saza:"We shall pretend that it never happened. I am expecting to pay a great deal for this pretense. I want to get my money's worth."

Me:"Very well. We'll continue with the visit as originally planned?"

Saza:"That would be for the best."

Me:"May I help with the payment?"

Saza:"I would take that as a great kindness." Zie finished zir brandy. "I suppose it is time to go see what other surprises lurk amidst your crew."

Me:"None, I hope."

Which was an utterly vain hope, given my crew.

Surprises

Quendry:"Uncle Saza! Uncle Saza! I maked you a wonderful sprize!"

Saza:"Sprizes are always wonderful, and so I thank you, Quendry Arfaen's-son." In a thousand years I suppose one learns the art of concealing one's emotions and being polite and cheerful in public.

Mellilot:"He worked all morning on it."

Quendry:"And I taked a bath, and I baked a bread rolls, and I shaked a rattle! That rhymes! It rhymes three times!"

Saza:"That rhymes too."

Quendry: [dancing around the room wagging his tail.] "A rhymes, three times ... some limes! All primes!"

Vae:"Not all primes, truly, but most."

Mellilot:"Quendry, the surprise."

Quendry:"The surprise!" He picked up a rather basic red cloth ribbon to which some glittery things had been attached with glue. "Here! This is your special Strayway wearing ribbon! Everyone will let you on the yacht when you are wearing this ribbon! It is special! This is you on the ribbon!" Saza looked rather like a picture of a squashed spider. "This is mommy!" Arfaen was an armless shape with an immense tail. "This is Ochirion!" Ochirion was a few tangled circles. "This is a talking couch!" It had some corners, in any case.

Saza wrapped it around zir neck as best zie could, getting glitter on zir feathers

Saza:"Why, Quendry, thank you. This is absolutely the best surprise I have received today."

Which was very true.

Sythyry vs. Saza, round 3

We were curled up together, politely, in the fireplace in my cabin to sleep. This is conventional manners for Zi Ri, I might note, and should not be mistaken for what it might mean if, say, two Rassimel were curled up in bed together, or two Sleeth. Even if I had been cisaffectionate, Saza was hardly in a receptive mood, much less a proceptive one.

Saza:"Sythyry, I am afraid that what I am going to say is unjustified, but I must say it. If I learn today that you were involved in this blackmail, I will forgive you, this year or this century as befits the circumstances. But if I learn about it tomorrow, I will never forgive you at all."

Me:"Fair enough. There's nothing to learn though. It was a surprise to me. If Grinwipey told me anything about it, he did it with such a slanty cant that I can't understand it."

Saza:"You've been taking rhyming lessons from Quendry, haven't you? I believe you. But if you are lying, I will be as unkind as I can arrange."

Me:"I had nothing to do with it. If you want to be sure ... do you have a truth-spell?"

I asked that with more than a little trepidation. Offering to allow zir to use mind-magic on me is somewhere between terrifying and disgusting. Even asking the question makes clear that zie is a mind-mage, which, though true, is not really a point I want to emphasize today.

Saza:"Yes, I do, as it happens. I'm very sorry. If I don't use it now, I am going to worry about it forever."

Me:"Saza, I would rather trust your sorcery than give you extra trouble. Coz."

So zie did. I stared at the spell to make sure it was Detect A Lie, which it was. It's not as hard for me to tolerate such things as for most people. I'm used to Vae casting mind magic on me, and breaking my ribs, and all sorts of things that are not acceptable in polite society. Somehow I've managed to be friends with her. Somehow I will manage to be friends with Sazandigraa as well.

Me:"I told you the full truth of what I knew and when I knew it; Grinwipey concealed it from me altogether, and I had nothing to do with it."

Saza:"Thank you, coz"

After which I had a sobbing cousin in my wings and fireplace, for rather a long time. There are no further interesting details, though.

Comments

[sebkha.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I can see the family resemblance. It's the Doom.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Y'know... That is awfully true!

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Or at least, truly awful.

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

In another century, I imagine this shall still be the most awkward situation you've ever been in.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Optimist!

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Well, rarely does the intersection of "Family", "Blackmail", "Professional Rivalry", and "Mental Magic" seem to dovetail. All you need now is a lover to get involved.

[terrana.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that must count as some flavour of incest.

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Most ZiRi relations would, in our culture.

[terrana.livejournal.com]

True, with that small a genepool, there's always going to be some factor there. But Sythyry and Sazandigraa are, as previously noted, more closely related than most.

Personally, I just enjoy the mental image of the look on Sythyry's face at the suggestion. Very the doom indeed.

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Mortifying Sythyry is a game the whole family can play!

[zeeth_kyrah]

At least Saza is a more compatibly-built lizard to be comforting. I'm thinking Vae doesn't do a lot of changing for your sake when tears break out.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

I think there's another wrinkle in this you haven't considered: Grinwipey just more or less mugged a rather powerful wizard and family member in public right in front of you because his family could make money off of it.

Right now I'd be wondering what he's been doing to the more vulnerable residents of Castle Wrong when you're not around.

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

Ahh, but most of them don't have anything he wants. No sense in robbing a beggar.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Besides, the wrongfolk aren't foreigners (to him), and my cousin is. Which makes a big difference.

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

A foreigner and an enemy of the family, I suppose.

I guess if you suspect Grinwipey of mugging anyone else aboard Strayaway, you'd be well within your rights to kick him out the door, or really quite much worse.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Everybody aboard Strayway is under my protection. Which doesn't delight me in Grinwipey's case, but it's still true. But if Grinwipey turns against other people I protect, I should think nobody would be surprised that he would forfeit my protection.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

All we know now is that Grinwipey is prepared to get violent for money and that he's willing to betray Sythyry. Which leaves open everything from the equivalent of shaking down Wrongers for their lunch money to selling information about their secrets.

Suppose a rich noble is upset his taughter eloped to live in a traff relationship and is willing to pay a large some of money to get her back or to get his hands on the male he blames for it. Can you really say you trust Grinwipey not to go for the deal?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Well, if by "violent" you mean "not striking a blow". And if by "betray" you mean "make my cousin unhappy without zir actually blaming me."

[OOC: Bard tosses that comment into the ideas file.]

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

So if someone tells me to give him my wallet or he'll kill me and I acquiese, he's not violent because I didn't make him actually carry trough with the threat?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I don't think Grinwipey was planning to be violent at all. He couldn't hope to win a direct fight against Saza's mystical weapons.

If you're a well-armed, well-armored, and well-trained knight, and a child with a willow switch demands your wallet or your life, and you give him your wallet, is he violent?

Grinwipey is a blackmailer (which I didn't know) and a devious scoundrel (which isn't that much of a surprise). I am quite displeased with him. But he is less violent than Rheng, than Yerenthax, than Vae. Probably less than Hops or me.

[Sythyry is evidently obliged to defend zir clients against foreigners such as yourself. -bb]

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

[foreign monsters no less!]

O_o

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Wow. I've had some seriously unpleasant dealings with some people, but the last couple days' worth of Sythyry's vacation make me think, "Yeah, that could have gone worse."

Re: O_o

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it'll be better once we're off Choinxeia.

Re: O_o

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

Haven't visited the Dark Trinity yet...

Re: O_o

[fringe-worthy.livejournal.com]

Maybe they'll erect a small statue of the 'little mother of Doom'.

Re: O_o

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

Maybe someone'll work that into their iteration of the three one day. Gnarn/Here/Proximity to Sythyry?

Though I guess Here sort of invalidates the concept of proximity.

Re: O_o

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I think Sythyry should invite Saza along with zir and Vae, then they can have their own dark trinity right there on the Strayway.

Re: O_o

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

I think you might have something there.

Re: O_o

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

The dark trinity is supposed to doom others though; Saza/Sythyry/Vae mostly doom themselves.

Maybe they're the dork trinity? (j/k)

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Wow. I can see the family resemblance in your actions. maybe it is a family curse of ill luck?

[rowyn]

The second surprise was much better than the first!

I am sorry to have learned that your cousin is a mindmage. An awfully unpleasant truth, that. :( Have you decided whether or not to forgive Grinwipey yet?

Directed to Sazandigraa

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

(Since you said we could talk to other characters)

Just out of curiousity, what was Grinwipey's uncle doing to incur your wrath and what did you do to him?

Re: Directed to Sazandigraa

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

He showed up in my bedroom and started hammering on me. I had to teleport out and collect some Gormoror hillsmen to catch him. I had them stab him to death, heal him some, kill him again, heal him again, and send him off. They decided it would be amusing to kill him the second time by boiling him, to which I had no particular objection.

Re: Directed to Sazandigraa

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Hammering on you was his job? o.O

Re: Directed to Sazandigraa

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

So it seems. A temporary job, at least.

Re: Directed to Sazandigraa

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Seems odd to hold a grudge when you successfully resist. Down right unprofessional even. Heck, you even let him live!

Re: Directed to Sazandigraa

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I suspect that he disapproves of being boiled.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Poor Saza, to have been humiliated twice, on what was supposed to have been a happy day. I really do think this is the sort of thing Vae could fix - convert the clubs into small tasty wheels of cheese or somesuch, and then the field is wide-open for Saza's vengeance.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

The club that Grinwipey has, yes. The other two are behind city walls -- and Vheshrame and Inihithre walls, at that; two of the strongest city walls anywhere. I doubt that anyone but a god could touch the other two from here, much less touch them so heavily as to make them useless for blackmail.

And even doing that wouldn't be the end of the matter, if the Khtsoyis preserved the evidence some other way.

[rowyn]

Moral of the story: having secrets is not worth the trouble. It's a good thing you decided to be open about being traff!

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

[OOC] I like how you handled this scene. I expected Saza to wipe the floor with Grinwipey, with collateral damage to the airship. Instead, the Khytsoyis actually outwitted the immortal dragon-wizard and defeated zir without striking a blow!

Interesting use of the word "client" also, in the Roman sense of "entourage member" or "groupie."

[IC] Where is Birknazza [To other readers: Birkozon the Mentador God's city] in relation to civilization? Does anyone from outside willingly interact with it?

I'd want to check that simple ribbon for enchantments before putting it on!

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

[OOC: *grin* Thank you. I was sneakily pointing out that even old and powerful Zi Ri are vulnerable -- and that Sythyry's age and magic aren't going to make zir safe.]

Patron/client is pretty much the right idea.

[IC] Birknazza is off Mrasteia. People do willingly interact with it, and get rich from doing so.

And Wipey's ribbon is fine. Or has something more subtle than I can see.

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

*laughs* This weekend I visited the stronghold city of an unusual church. [OOC: Clearwater, FL.] The thought has me imagining Birknazza's agents standing on street corners inviting people to take a free "personality test" and sign up for life-enhancing classes.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

OOC: not wholly unrelated, truly.

[calamitous-cani.livejournal.com]

Certainly, Birknazza's representatives are very helpful and ask seemingly so little in return, from all I have been told. Thus far, I have no personal verification of that that I know of, of course.. I have more than a little bit of fear of that ever coming to pass.