MESSAGES

[kingmakereffect]

If you have something to ask the Kingmaker about over the phone, this is where it goes! The Kingmaker will answer the phone as soon as he's available. There isn't an option to leave a message on his voicemail, but the Kingmaker will take your calls at almost any hour of the day.

Your smartphones will only connect to the Kingmaker. There is no option to dial a number, instead it will connect automatically to his phone.

Comments are screened for privacy; no listening in on each other's private conversations without permission, after all.

Comments

[captainobnoxious]

At length. Hopefully as directly as possible and with little deflection.

[Okay. Ahem. Pressing issue first. Her voice is a quieter now, but it still has an edge.]

I'd just like to know what happened to Zagi's body and if Kamui's body is going to end up in the same state.

[kingmakereffect]

Adaptable's body was removed from the dining room and the area was cleaned up. Is that a problem?

[that's not an answer, kingmaker]

[captainobnoxious]

You know what I'm talking about, Kingmaker. What we saw after the vote was tallied.

[kingmakereffect]

Why are you so concerned about that?

[captainobnoxious]

Where I'm from, we would burn the bodies of warriors laid to rest so that their souls may reach the ancient gods, but in practical terms it's because the dead fester disease and the chance they could pass on the Illness is too great to let them rot in the ground. Even if the latter might not be an issue here -- and I hope it isn't -- it's tradition for the dead to stay dead.

[She pauses here, hopefully so that it sinks into the Kingmaker's mind about it.]

The last part is my biggest issue about it. Is that an understandable enough answer?

[kingmakereffect]

...Yes, it is.

I can guarantee that Adaptable is dead. Dependent is as well. You don't need to worry about disease or anything like that either.

[captainobnoxious]

Thanks.

[... It's relieving to hear that, though she's still on edge because of her next question.]

What did we see after Kamui was put in the middle of the room? Illusions don't exist, and even if they did I don't think they'd be so... real.

[Then again, the dream she'd had last night was particularly real too -- especially since she doesn't often remember hers, being a light sleeper.]

[kingmakereffect]

I can't tell you that.

[sorry, sigrun]

[captainobnoxious]

[Figures.]

Will you be able to at some point of time? I'm not the only one who was more than a little upset at that.

[kingmakereffect]

Perhaps. I'm not sure.

[captainobnoxious]

[There's pensive silence for a moment before she huffs, but it's not very annoyed sounding now. More like resigned to that answer.]

Even if I don't know if you're telling the truth or not, this is more than I thought I'd hear from you about it. I don't really like trusting you on just your word either.

[But she doesn't have much say on that matter.]

[kingmakereffect]

I can see why. Unfortunately, my word is all you have.

[captainobnoxious]

[Unfortunately.]

So, on the off chance this happens again... Will it end up the same way? If you can tell me.

[kingmakereffect]

Maybe, maybe not. That's not something I can answer right now.

[captainobnoxious]

I'm not happy about that, but I'll take what I can get. Can't say the others might feel the same way though.

[With luck they will, but it's just a waiting game. Sigrun hates waiting. It's boring and gets you nowhere, but she doesn't have much of a choice -- none of them do.]

... Since that didn't take as long as I thought it would and I don't feel like throttling you anymore, [she's honest alright,] I'm free to answer anything you want to ask. Like I offered last time we talked.

[kingmakereffect]

[AT LEAST YOU'RE HONEST]

Hmm... Perhaps you could tell me a bit about that illness? The one that makes it a bad idea to bury bodies.

[captainobnoxious]

[IT'S ALL YOU CAN ASK FOR, REALLY]

Well, it came about some ninety years ago and killed off all of the old world. Or at least ninety years ago we learned how to deal with it and there were enough immune people to sustain the cities we had, to fight back against what had become of the lands.

[Whiiich she'll get to in time. It's good that these beds are so comfy, because she can see herself laying here for a while yet.]

It basically starts out as a really bad rash, and those that have it are dead already. I'm not a doctor person so I can't tell you a lot of those kind of details, but like with any illness we make really good carriers -- and anything that eats us ends up the same way. So to prevent that, we burn the bodies or bury them under rocks. Usually the latter if there's no usable wood nearby.

Thankfully, outside of licking something, there's not many ways someone who's not immune can get it, and they're usually kept safe behind the walls. People like me who are immune get to explore the Silent Lands and take back what the oldworlders left behind.

[kingmakereffect]

I see. You're very lucky, then. Do you like exploring the Silent Lands? What sort of things do you find?

[captainobnoxious]

Ah-ah maker, one question at a time.

[She can do it too!! Petty revenge!!!]

But I do! It's a lot of fun and it's nice to think that I'm the first person seeing some of the stuff out there. You mostly find exactly what you're looking for: I'm a troll hunter, so I find trolls. Actually, you usually find them whether you're looking for them or not, because creatures like that have made the Silent Lands their home. The Danes like to look for old world technology and treasure for some reason.

[kingmakereffect]

...Alright, I walked right into that one. Well played.

[He sounds amused at least!!]

What are trolls exactly? Monsters of some sort, right?

[captainobnoxious]

[She wins!!]

The smarter people call them the "echos of history" and fancy stuff like that, but when you get down to yet, yeah. Really gross looking too.

Besides trolls there's also beasts and giants, all very different, but the commonality of all of them is that they're dangerous, spread the Illness, and have to be gotten rid of so that we can live there again. No one really gets where they came from or why, but seeing as some of them are about human sized it's thought that the Illness made them that way. Since that happened with the beasts who were infected.

[kingmakereffect]

I see. That sounds... interesting.

[It sounds like he was looking for a different word, but you can practically hear the shrug when he settles on that one.]

It goes without saying that anyone who willingly goes out there to fight them must be very brave.

[captainobnoxious]

[Interesting is a good way to put it, but.]

I told you it wasn't a happy tale, right? But I'm used to it, so bravery doesn't even come to mind when I think about tracking them down. It's just my sworn duty as an Eide.

[And one she's very clearly proud of.]

[kingmakereffect]

Is this something your family has done for a long time?

[captainobnoxious]

As long as I can remember! [ehhh] Well, maybe since my grandparents anyway. I grew up hearing all about the glorious tales of them and the rest of my family, from cousins to brothers in arm, so it's only natural I'd want to find my footing while I'm still young.

[Treasure, glory, recognition -- no one in their right mind would've refused the expedition she'd volunteered herself onto, even if it's still fuzzy as to what they were doing out there in the first place.]

... And now I'm here, so that's a thing. You sure know how to take the glory away from dying.