MENTAL LINK.

[somnifacient]

KING to sacrifice	DUTY to bear
KINSHIP to cherish	LIGHT to cast

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[somnifacient]

(And apparently how they deal with it is... murder. Good to know.)

[The sarcasm slipping through is more than obvious.]

[sistershoggoth]

( I'm not surprised, that's court politics and the Black are the courtliest of them all. )

[somnifacient]

(I grew up surrounded by court politics. Pretty sure dad didn't go around assassinating anyone who wanted to whisper behind his back.)

[sistershoggoth]

( That depends on who's whispering and what they're whispering about. And your dad didn't have to do it personally for it to get done. )

[somnifacient]

[Immediate offense rises at that.]

(He wasn't that kind of person. It's not like we were Niflheim, stabbing each other in the back.)

[He says this, full well knowing that he was very much detached from the politics that brewed in the Citadel. Also knowing that, a few thousands of years ago, his family did do some major backstabbing...]

[sistershoggoth]

( But you know that's what people do. )

[somnifacient]

(Yeah, but... You didn't know my dad.)

[sistershoggoth]

( Why are we talking about him. )

[somnifacient]

(Because you mentioned "courtly" stuff like it's all the same, all over the universe. It isn't.)

[His dad was an example. Let Noctis remember him as a good father and a good king.]

[sistershoggoth]

( Just cuz your king was benevolent doesn't mean power doesn't corrupt most. )

[somnifacient]

(As if I don't know that.)

[King Regis being benevolent or otherwise, Noctis still lived through a war. Watched Niflheim invade Lucis, guided by the hand of a power hungry Emperor being manipulated by a vengeful Chancellor.]

(Just saying that not all royalty is corrupt, and not all courts suck. That's all.)

[sistershoggoth]

( Point taken, prince Noctis. Touchy touchy. )

[somnifacient]

(I'm not touchy.)

[He just doesn't want to think of his dad like that.]

(Anyway, so what now? About the murders. We just stay quiet or something?)

[sistershoggoth]

( None of the Rabos know we know, and half our own people ignored me telling them about it. So whatever, really. )

[somnifacient]

(Okay... so. Moving on like nothing happened, then.

At least we know that they aren't playing around.)

[sistershoggoth]

( This whole thing is essentially about weapons of mass destruction. Of course they're not playing around. )

[somnifacient]

(Which makes all this pomp and circumstance and rituals and pilgrimages seem like one big joke. It's just all about power, and who gets it first.

Can't wait to get off of this planet, to be honest with you.)

[sistershoggoth]

( Well, yeah, they're all up their own asses about being the arbiters of this power, so they're gonna make everybody fuckin' dance for it. Their shit is very important blahblahblah. The Rabos suck. Except maybe the Meradans, they're pretty chill. )

[ A decision probably made by who's been drinking with her the most on the ship. ]

[somnifacient]

(Dance for it, kill for it. Just a matter of time before all of this falls apart and goes to hell.)

[No shred of optimism here. He's seen that delicate dance heralding a violent power struggle before; Noctis has no faith there won't be a parallel sort of repeat here.]

[sistershoggoth]

( Well, if you're the expert maybe you should help us figure out who's the hungriest to fuck everything up in the name of their shitty self-importance. )

[somnifacient]

(You think they all aren't equally hungry? It's just going to come down to who's faster, flashier, and maybe more underhanded.)

[All of this just unsettles well in him, but not to the point of not cooperating.]

(But I never said anything about not helping.)

[sistershoggoth]

( Then get to work, dickhead! )

[somnifacient]

(Stop calling me dickhead!)

[Because this is the important thing to be focusing on right now; but they're the same as they always are, two children that keep on fondly pestering each other. Defiantly:]

(Dickhead.)

[sistershoggoth]

( Make me. )

[somnifacient]

(What are you, like nine?)