viking_seer | TLV Inbox

"People are simple and predictable. They have simple desires and wishes and basic wants. They believe themselves to be complicated, to be unique and individual. They like to feel that way."

"Except when they aren't," she says as the coffee starts flowing through. She'll lean against the counter. "Simple desires, simple wants, but how those wants get expressed, how they combine, how they interact with the rest of a person, with the people around them... that's where it gets interesting."

"It isn't interesting," he laughs. "It's just as predictable. You cannot sway me by waxing poetic about the benefits and pleasures of humanity, Saga. I simply do not care."

She raises an eyebrow.

"I don't recall aiming to 'sway' you to anything right now. Swing and a miss, Mr. 'Predictable'."

She turns to go for the carafe now, pouring out for both of them.

"And that might be true back in your world, where you know most of the circumstances and understand the society everyone grew up in. But I think you'll find it's a little more complicated once you factor in different societies and universal rules."

Edited 2025-02-17 03:16 (UTC)

He chuckles and there's - almost genuine amusement behind the sound.

"I am still not interested in engaging with it."

"And I'm still not trying to make you," she says, and that's when she's going to bring the coffee over for him and for her. Then she'll sit.

"Then why waste the time bringing it up?"

He takes the coffee and sips at it, nodding at the attempt.

"What do you consider a 'waste' of time?"

She's curious.

"This," he answers, enjoying the coffee as it is. "It serves no purpose."

"So a waste of time is something that serves no purpose to you," she says thoughtfully. "What would you rather talk about?"

"I wouldn't. What do you have to offer me?" he wonders.

She shakes her head.

"If you don't know already, then nothing I say will convince you."

"Perspective and guidance and a way to graduate this place," he admits, inclining his head.

"And someone in a position of authority to have your back," she says quietly. She knows this is a prison. She knows it's a lot of other things as well, but she also knows it's a prison.

"As you have proven today," he concedes. "I have been a model of restraint, though. I would think there is no reason for me to need such an advocate, but today proved me wrong."

"And I'm sorry that happened," and she is 100% earnest on that fact, "but I'm glad I was there."

She'd been there to look out for Vincent, but she was also there to look out for Iago.

"For my part, I don't have any issues with how you've been comporting yourself." He is what he is. Her work won't be to entirely rehaul him so much as get him to see the value in restraint and better outlets for his emotional upset. No one said you had to not be a lying jackass. "And I appreciate that. I realize this place is... a lot."

"As I told another warden," he says, sitting back. "I have no need for violence. It isn't the first move I make."

He sets down the cup.

"May I speak plainly?"

"Always."

She gestures for him to go right ahead.

He looks at her and speaks genuine, actual, truth.

"I have no plans or machinations here, save for - one that involves another person who is a willing participant. We've made that plain."

There's a 'yet' buried in there, but he doesn't think he needs to say it.

"I don't consider the majority of people here worth my time, and the Barge provides enough amusement that I need not structure anything for myself. You have proven that you care enough to handle my genuine grievances. Revenge is never a primary motivation for me anyhow. Your biggest obstacle now is simply convincing me that I need to put in the work to change."

She'll put her own cup down as well.

"I'll be honest and say that that's about what I expected. Though I'll tell you what I told the Cat King: I don't think I'm here to change you. I think it's more complicated than that, and that's a road we'll walk together, figuring out exactly what you need to see and learn to be ready for your next chapter."

She folds her hands.

"As for what I'm concerned about, it's not you looking for trouble. It's how far you'll go if people start trouble with you. It's also the Cat King" and she holds up a hand, "specifically in that he seems content to start things and when slash if you'll feel the need to get involved and how far things might get escalated."

Iago just watches her, trying to get a sense of her. Trying to figure it out.

"I make no promises about what I do in exchange for what's done to me," he points out.

"And - I didn't come to this place because of CK." Though if it wasn't him, it'd be someone else. And Iago knows that.

"But - you say walk together. As if you don't know what I need to get out."

She smiles a little at that.

"I have some ideas, sure," she says easily enough, "but how those things will translate into your life, into a new path for you that feels right, that gives you what you need..."

She shakes her head.

"The details always get figured out along the way. Otherwise, I'm just shoving you into a mold, and I've got no interest in doing that to anyone. Mostly cause it doesn't work."

She picks up her cup.

"I told you the very first day: I want you to control your own narrative. I can give you ideas, help you smooth out the rough parts, but you're holding the pen. Not me."

He thinks of Othello, the book, not the man. He thinks of the way he had been presented. The truth, yes, but so ugly and stained with blood.

He doesn't cry for Emilia. Or Desdamona. Or any of the other lives that were twisted and ruined by his words and schemes.

He doesn't regret it, what he did, but he is finally ready to hear the way that he can rewrite a new narrative. Something where he isn't the villain.

"Alright," he says and extends a hand to her. "Let's write a story."

She'll put her cup down, and she'll take his hand with her own in a solid, friendly shake.

"Let's write a story," she says back.

He nods and pulls away, picking up his cup for a final drink.

"That's enough of that for a day. Breakfast tomorrow? I promise to be there this time," he chuckles.

Re: After the Vincent convo

viking_seer - 2025-02-17 17:42 (UTC) - Expand